Essay : Policing from behind the wheel
News that the UK’s last MG police car has been pensioned off* surely merits that oft overused ‘end of an era’ phrase. ‘MG Rover and out’ about sums it up – and it prompted a mixture of memories from...
View ArticlePolice cars : Triumph
Like their counterparts Rover, Triumph had long been suppliers of cars to the Police, ableit less prodigiously, for many years prior to the 1968 merger. Here we see a couple of models that were still...
View ArticlePolice cars : Rover/Land Rover
Although earlier Rovers such as the P4 and P5 were certainly used by various police forces, the Leyland-era P6 and SD1 became almost synonymous with the term “jam sandwich”, referring to dayglo orange...
View ArticlePolice cars : Jaguar
It takes one to catch one: in fact, some British police forces were using Jaguar saloons as early as the 1940s, but they came into their own as motorway patrol cars. In the pre-BMH/Leyland era, Daimler...
View ArticlePolice cars : Wolseley
The Police’s loyalty to the Wolseley marque was remarkably strong right up to the mid-1960s. In fact, watch any British black & white crime film, and you’ll probably see one of these before too...
View ArticlePolice cars : MG
These days it’s hard to imagine the police zipping around in a two-seater sports car, but from the 1930s through to the 1960s, some of them did just that. Today’s MG-driving policemen are more likely...
View ArticlePolice cars : Morris
The Morris Minor was a very popular Panda car throughout the 1960s. Also shown here is what must be one of the rarest of police cars, the Morris 1800, which was sold for just seven months before being...
View ArticlePolice cars : Austin
Austin 1100/1300 Panda cars were a common sight in the 1970s, as were Metro Area cars in the 1980s. Less common in Police hands were the 1800 ‘Land crab’ and short-lived 3-litre. Austin A95 Westminster...
View ArticlePolice cars : Mini
Being nippy and economical, Minis were mainly used as Panda cars, although some forces elected to use the Cooper versions as Patrol cars. Mini A Befordshire Mini Panda car photographed in the late...
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