I was on the M1 j4 this morning when I spotted a marked police car with the policeman leaning out of his window with a "hair dryer" I was doing 80-85 mph when I spotted him and am a little concerned that I may receive a NIP shortly. There were numerous other cars around but as I was in the fast lane I am sure he would have aimed at me at some point.

In this instance do they have to then follow you and pull you over to notify you of the offence or can they just sit there all day recording every car that speeds

Secondly, msn on the web state http://cars.msn.co.uk/carnews/SpeedCamerasMar2005  that these Speedar cameras are not supposed to be used by the operator whilst sitting inside their vehicle. Is this a defence that stands up or does it not really matter??

Your advice would be appreciated

They do not have to pull you at the time.
They can just go through the procedure of notification as if thy were an unattended camera.
That said, AIUI, it is unusual for traffic police not to pull you at the time.

Thanks...I will just have to hope he wasnt after me then.

However if he was does the fact that they are not supposed to use them whilst sitting in the car form a good enough "get out" for me as he was definatley in his car pointing it out of the window. MSN's guide says they are not supposed to...but this might not mean that they arent allowed to do this.

Cheers

I'd of thought it would of been a laser gun as these are much more accurate than radar and unfortunately sitting in the car using these seems to be quite common

but is it right?  

 

It's very sneaky. ACPO states the following: -

in section 14.1 - The handheld devices, on occasions, have the appearance of a firearm. It is therefore important that this fact is borne in mind when operating such units. The operator must be clearly visible to the public and the target vehicle throughout the check. Devices should be operated in accordance with manufacturers instructions.

and in section 14.2 - Laser or optical hand-held devices may be used from within a vehicle provided there are no radio transmissions during the measurement. Any GSM phones must be turned off and any TETRA radios turned off unless they have a transmission inhibit switch, which is activated.

Please bear in mind the ACPO guidelines are just guidleines and do not usually offer an 'opt out' for the accusation against you.

this is the reason that you often find the police sitting in the car to point a gun at you as they rest the thing on the wing mirror to remove the shake so they can get an "Accurate" reading............... However if they are sitting on a motorway bridge what happens if the wind blows and their car rocks just as they target you.......

also Flyin Flea wrote