Motorway Snooker

In his book Bobby on the Beat, former London policeman Bob Dixon described the game of motorway (or traffic) snooker:

A practice that was occasionally talked about in police canteens was the game of snooker, not table snooker but "traffic snooker". This was a game specifically played by lads in the traffic division, the dreaded speed cops whose main work consisted of dealing with traffic accidents but who also reported motorists for speeding offences. The game the officers played consisted of scoring points, as in table snooker, the numbers depending on the colours of the cars they had reported for speeding during their shift — for example, a red car scored 1 point, a yellow 2 points, and so on, with a black one scoring the maximum 7 points. At the end of a shift, the traffic cars on the division would return to the police garage and the crews totted up their points to find the winner. I never heard what the prize was.

Over the years some drivers have filed complaints, claiming to have been victims of motorway snooker.

Sydney Morning Herald - Sep 11, 1999



Of course, the official position of the British traffic police is that their officers would not engage in such frivolous games. But that even if they did, all the cars they stopped were speeding anyway.

The Herts and Essex Observer - Jan 16, 1992



More info: BBC News
     Posted By: Alex - Sat Dec 24, 2022
     Category: Games | Police and Other Law Enforcement | Cars





Comments
Of course they would not engage in such frivolous games. 😊
Posted by Patrick on 12/24/22 at 09:50 AM
I dunno, I'm in two minds about this. They might've let some speeders off because they were the wrong colour, which is bad; but if they framed (ha! another snooker pun) someone just because he drove the right colour car... Sure, in Allybammy, Sheriff's word is law, but in Europe, even in England, they'd better have evidence. Drive safely!
Posted by Richard Bos on 12/25/22 at 06:57 AM
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