Cops and Ro... er County Councillors.

Tuesday 23rd February

As part of my business concerns, I occasionally find myself out on site managing construction in a 'hands-on' manner. For this task I also run a 'work truck' which just happens to be a 1989 Jaguar XJ6 Sovereign (I don't play croquet, harrass my secretary or pounch voters, so let that be the beginning and end of the John Prescott comparisons...) which can carry quite a lot of gear to and from sites in relative comfort. At home we affectionately call the car 'The Sweeney' & 'Big Vern' because of its gangster associations and indeed, the Mayor of Surrey Heath, Cllr Craig Fennell refers to it as my 'Bank robber's car'...

One of my site managers is currently off, recuperating after an operation and for the last couple of weeks I've found myself working at one of my sites in Weybridge. We're in the final stages of the scheme and are now putting the finishing touches to the external groundworks, which means that we're dealing with mud & concrete and have to dress appropriately.

To mitigate the effects of commuter boredom, I've generally tended to take different routes on the journeys. Last week on the way in, I drove through Chobham. Which is where I was stopped by the police.

I had thought that 'stop and search' had been 'outlawed' but perhaps I'd just read a Daily Mail headline at the petrol station. Seemingly, rather than stopping motorists on the basis of suspicion that an offence has been committed - bald tyre, speeding, out of date tax etc - the police can actually stop motorists for no reason other than to request sight of motoring documents!
Perhaps with my army surplus clothing, woolly hat and 'bank robber's car', I looked suspicious. In any event, 'Big Vern' and I had nothing to worry about, being as we were both fully legal and after the PC kicked the tyres and ran a check, we went on our way with nothing more than a 'producer' and a 20 minute delay.

But for the rest of the week, I took the M3. And a Top Hat.