Not taking the job too seriously!

I don’t think anyone would disagree with the much-used saying amongst the older Nottscops that “the job isn’t as much fun as it used to be.” Looking back, I’m sure the job had more lighter moments in the past than it does now, but maybe that’s just me. When I joined the job in 1974, the officers nearing the end of their service told me then that it wasn’t as much of a laugh as it was just after the war! Maybe in thirty years from now today’s Nottscops will look back on today and say what fun they used to have at the turn of the millennium.

So let me invite you to have a smile at some of the things you used to get up to, for example, Dave Brown says,

"In 1967, as a young 19 years old PC on nights at Sutton in Ashfield myself and Mick Bainbridge (Ex-cadet, God knows what happened to him) used to jump up and down on the rubber pads controlling traffic lights at New Cross. This was to get vehicles to stop, a damn sight easier than ‘Traffic signal no 1’!. We did this regularly until we were spotted by a nearby householder who reported two crazy Policeman, thankfully she didn’t see me riding off to the next point on the ‘section bike’ with Mick on the cross-bar. Not forgetting to rattle the cellar flaps at Sutton Town Supporters Club, Priestsic Road, which would set the alarm off, allowing you the nearest officer to get sent to it and get a pint for the trouble!

PS. You only used to get the bike if you check unoccupied properties cleaned it on a Sunday and bribed Jack (Sgt) Wathey with fags."

Maybe the job was fun and we were tempted to get up to mischief because things weren’t so hectic then as now, and we had a little more “down-time”, especially on nights. At Carlton it was a regular thing to take our Escort MkI Pandas to the top of Arnold Lane, Gedling, put it out of gear and coast down the hill, which undulates up and down for a mile or so into Gedling. We would take it in turns to see how far we could get before the car eventually came to a standstill.

It seems to me that everybody at some time pratted around at the rate payer's expense. Didn't we have fun on nights when it snowed!. One very senior officer - and I mean very senior officer - told me recently that he, as a young Pc in his force on nights, teamed up with his colleagues on a supermarket car-park in the snow at four in the morning for some impromtu skid pan training and nearly wrote the car off, not to mention several shopping trollies.

Now that I’m a retired Nottscop I guess I’m safe to confess my sins and share my experiences of driving a Ford Granada traffic car at ninety miles an hour along the runway at Tollerton Airdrome, which used to call itself Nottingham Airport, in the middle of the night. This was a brilliant place to chase rabbits, especially at three in the morning when they were normally off their guard and not expecting to be chased by the police. On one occasion, Trev Lovell was riding shotgun as I was building the Ford grandad up to take-off speed along the main runway. Now the range of the headlamps at 90mph on a totally dark airfield is good – but not that good – so it was with a certain amount of concern for Trev and me when a parked-up Bell helicopter costing several hundred thousand pounds suddenly came into the beam of our headlamps. Yes, straight bang in the middle of the runway someone had parked a bloody helicopter without lights. Outragous! With inches to spare I manoeuvred our trusty craft around the obstruction and braked hard with full flaps, I think I used reverse thrust too – it certainly smelt like it! In a state of shock we sedately left the airfield and quietly continued our tour of duty. The Tollerton bunnies were safe, at least for that night.

So, if you've got a contibution to make to my argument that the job was more fun all those years ago, please email me with the details. Meanwhile take a look at my collection below so far of Nottscops not taking the job too seriously. Just click on each photo.

Green Shield Stamps with every gallon!	Speed-trap in the Gatehouse Yard	Tony Grice on a special operation	Hughie Fisher caught short!
Chris Brotherhood on a Chopper	Coming odd duty after a bad day	Paul Squires first arrest?	Don't stand too close to that Traffic Officer! You'll catch Long Hair