Any other ex or serving UK police officers here?
Here's what I can remember of the vehicles I drove and was authorised to drive during my 13 years in the Met in London.
The first GP (unmarked General Purpose vehicle. Trivia fact: that's where the term Jeep comes from) I drove as a Basic Driver "on duty" (i.e. prior to attendance at Hendon Driving School) was an automatic beige Hillman Hunter which in 1990 was already a veteran of the fleet. Very upright window, and very upright seat and steering wheel. A horrible drive. The next GP I drove was a horrible old all white automatic Vauxhall Cavalier, which was awful. Basics only got to drive gash vehicles that no one else wanted to drive or be seen in driving!
Then after passing my Standard Driver Course at Hendon we were allowed to drive the white Mini Metro and Maestro Pandas with the Met police arms and red/blue jam sandwich stripe down the side.
Also all the various other GPs, Cavaliers and Montegos and the odd old Chrysler (Hillman as was) but especially the favourite pale blue and pale green 1.3 Astras, which went like a bomb! Only the DPG (later the RDPG) were allowed red vehicles back then.
Then I did the Van Driver Course. And that's when the real fun began. Because that was the first time you had blue lights. I used to love throwing the Sherpa around. Initially we only had a bell in the Sherpa just like we had in the pandas. GPs didn't even have that.
Getting through traffic in central London in a GP back then was a combination of sounding horn and flashing main beam at the same time while holding on to the steering wheel. Luckily, most of the general public knew that pale blue and pale green Astras without hubcaps were GPs, so that helped.
Later on Sherpas were fitted with the full 3 sound + bell + PA siren box, which operators (myself included) used to love playing about with switching sounds rapidly to make a weird mobile blue flashing soundtrack.
At this time, early 90s, there were still a few dark blue Ford Transits on the fleet & they were fun but twice as heavy as the Sherpas.
I served on the white Transit carriers with the DSU in the mid 80s (Just before the DSU and the SPG (remember Blair Peach?) got disbanded. And the new TSG took over)
But I only ever ferried them to and from the station or to the garage at Alperton, never in anger so to speak.
On a shout we'd often play music over the PA in combination with the blue lights rather than use the sirens. I remember Hawaii five 0 was always effective in central London and always raised a smile or two from motorists and pedestrians alike. That said, Ride of the Valkyries played going into Tottenham, Brixton and Notting Hill wasn't really appreciated
Something else I drove, which even in the early 90s still retained it's 1970s sky blue panda colour, was the Ford Transit control vehicle with the perspex observation dome on the roof, huge loudspeakers, blue lights and the chequered blue and white band around the base of the dome. Jesus we had fun in that thing.
The next stage was when I passed the new Response Driver level and could then drive more powerful Astras with lights and sirens.
Although not an Area Car driver (Never wanted to be one, I was having more fun with a crew in the various vans and buses), some of the Area Cars I ferried were the various models of the Rover SD1 (with it's square steering wheel), a V6 Peugoet (piece of crap, about as safe at speed as a paper crash helmet), an MG Montego, an MG Maestro, and a Carlton.
Only van drivers were allowed to ferry Area Cars and in the absence of an Area Car driver also prisoners' cars.
This might be of interest to someone.
