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@vinylvillain
So just left West London drinks in The Old Ship, and get about 100m down the road to just before Hammersmith Bridge on the cyclepath when i am stopped by the old bill . . .
There are 4 police officers under the bridge, the literally manhandle me off my bike, tell me that the path is no longer a cycle route and as such i am liable to a 30 quid fixed penalty . . but thats not all, upon clocking the my flashing front and rear lights they tell me that i need to turn off my lights as if i dont they will charge me with impersonating a police officer, as apparently the only flashing lights allowed on the road are those that belong to emergency vehicles, which i can understand if i was in a car, but a bicycle?? . . i of course tell them that if i switch off my light they will probably be peeling me off the Fulham Palace Road in 10 minutes time, to which they respond "The laws the law, now fuck off if you dont want to spend the night behind bars" . . .
Anyway i walk off (they told me if i rode off i would be arrested) and carry on my way home, switching my lights back on once i am out of catching disance. As luck would have it when about 5 minutes later when i hit Munster road there are 2 bike coppers, so i stop them and explain what happened - now unlike the other coppers these 2 were on the ball, i told them what had happened, and they at first refused to believe me as they thought i was taking the piss, however after getting on the walkie talkies and confirming with the police station that there were police down there they said it was well out of order and that they actively encourage bike riders to use flashing lights . .
Anyone else get stopped on the way back? Cant quite believe that i was told to turn off my light s for impersonating a police car . . .fucking surreal!