Now we have the popular Volvo V70 in demonstrator livery.



This police specification vehicle has been adopted by many forces up and down the country.



Next we have a Volvo S60 police demonstrator. This vehicle has very similar performance to the V70 but obviously doesn’t have the large load carrying ability.



An interesting feature on this police specification model, and not on standard production ones, is the additional left hand side wing mirror. This is for the passenger’s use in place of an additional internal rear view mirror.



This Volvo S40 is also intended for police use. This family sized saloon offers a wide choice of powerful engines and is also extremely safe to both its passengers and also to pedestrians in the event of an accident.



The V50 is the estate version of the S40. The load space is considerably smaller than that of its bigger brother, the V70.



This Ford Mondeo estate is operated by Hampshire Police. Notice their unique livery, devoid of any high contrast colours. Again, the roof rails have been used as an effective mounting point for the light bar.



GP53 WGE is a Toyota Landcruiser and is a direct rival to the British built Range Rover.



The rear view. Note the extra repeater light bar positioned at the rear of the roof.



Next we have a Lexus GS430 operated by Wiltshire constabulary. This is a rare vehicle to see in police markings. Notice how the paint colour of the body is metallic silver. This should help with the re-sale value of this large executive car once it has finished its life in the police force.



The side view of this rather smart looking car.



Another Wiltshire operated Lexus GS430, but this time with white paint.



This is the more compact Lexus IS300. With a punchy 6 cylinder 3 litre engine and real wheel drive, it is ideal for high speed driving.



The side view of this rather smart looking car.



AU04 HNL This blue Lotus Elise Norfolk police car is liveried as a ‘cruise liaison’ vehicle. It is used to bridge the gap between cruisers and the police by bring them together on a common interest.



YJ04 CFG This is Citroen Dispatch from North Yorkshire Police. Notice the repeater lights mounted to the large black grille.



The side view of the same vehicle. Apart from minor cosmetic changes, the Citroen Dispatch is the same vehicle as the Peugeot Expert and the Fiat Scudo.



VX04 NBY This battenburg-marked Vauxhall Corsa is for community support officers in West Mercia.A South Yorkshire Police Peugeot dog van.



X61 AHL A South Yorkshire Police Peugeot dog van.



YJ04 CDZ A North Yorkshire Ford Focus. Notice the lack of roof markings and the apparently temporarily attached blue light bar.



YJ04 CEK is a North Yorkshire mobile police station. Its full battenburg markings on the sides make it difficult to miss. It is used in rural areas around Harrogate that do not have police stations.



T560 DUB A West Yorkshire Police Mercedes flat-bed truck. It is fitted with amber flashing beacons and is used for vehicle transportation.



LX03 KMG A Honda Deauville police motorbike demonstrator. Notice the small screen placed on top of the body that is replaying images captured from the on-board camera. It is housed in a pannier when the bike is in motion.



OE04 AWN A police Volvo XC70 demonstrator. Notice the additional LED flashing blue light mounted on the dashboard.



G31 PWT This is a heavily armoured Land Rover from West Yorkshire police. It has mesh covers over all the lights and blue light bar, as well as an optional grille for the windscreen. It also has armoured sides (with portholes) and a full body skirt.

These four images show PSNI motorcycles escorting ex-US president Bill Clinton from the City of Derry Airport during a visit to Northern Ireland in August 2004.

NC04 GLJ This black Mercedes SLK 200 is with Durham Constabulary to promote their Bike Wise event in the summer of 2004. It has a minimal livery and a small blue light cluster on the roof (which is magnetically attached). It has no internal alterations and it is likely that it will be stripped back to civilian specification and sold as an ex-demonstrator.

GV52 GVL This silver Toyota 4×4 is a demonstrator with Nav-Comm. It has a number of ultra thin flashing lightbars on the roof, front bumper and rear bumper.



The rear view. Notice the parking camera mounted below the registration plate and the lack of ‘police’ markings.

Y365 PRX A police BMW C1, on trial in South Yorkshire. Notice the battenburg markings and two blue lights on the front. It was on trial in South Yorkshire in 2002, but considered unsuitable for police duties. It has been used elsewhere as a police and fire vehicle. This single track vehicle with a safety cage is classified as a motorbike in the UK. The hybrid car/motorbike has caused problems in the British legal system regarding the use of a helmet when operating it. It depends whether you are ‘inside’ the bike or ‘on’ it.



The rear view. Powered by a 125cc engine mated to a continuously variable stepless automatic transmission, it offers super-safe motorbiking with its head restraints, racing-style seatbelts and crumple zones. Not available in the USA, this hybrid vehicle was first presented by BMW in 1992. Dwindling sales meant that it ceased production in October 2002.

NU02 ORA This is a Cleveland Police VW LT46 van. Notice that it has no blue lights on the roof. Due to its height they wouldn’t be easily seen, so they are placed around the edge.



The rear view.

YJ04 CFL This Ford Focus estate is generally used for non-emergency police work by North Yorkshire. It can be temporarily fitted with a blue light bar if required.

YG02 EZK is a North Yorkshire Police Peugeot Expert. This overhead view shows the extra wording of ‘crime scene investigation unit’ in red text on the rear of the vehicle and dark blue on the side window.

Y492 DCH a Ford Iveco EuroCargo mobile community police office. This truck has no sign of any police battenburg markings or striping.



The rear view. It has a canopy (that is retracted here) as well as a number of entrances. Also notice the small rotating blue beacon at the rear. The only other blue lights are on the front grille.

YJ04 CDV This North Yorks. Ford Focus looks like its sister vehicles, except for the lack of blue lights. It is used for non-urgent police work and is part of the force’s plan to increase the police presence on the streets by adding a livery to all force vehicles.

YJ04 CEX This North Yorkshire Police Peugeot Expert is specially liveried as a ‘crime scene investigation unit’.

KX04 UWY This is an aptly named Ducati 999 police bike. Grampian Police were loaned the bike after the Scottish Motorcycle Show in 2004. While on loan it was used for operational patrolling, but was not fitted with a police radio.

OU51 DWY This Skoda Octavia vRS is in use with the traffic division of Cumbria Constabulary.



The rear view of the same car.

PX51 GJZ is a Cumbria Nissan Terrano, ideal for the rugged terrain on the Lake District. This vehicle has small repeater blue lights mounted in the front bumper.

R440 UAO is a similar-looking Ford Maverick 4×4. Notice the unusual silver grille, the extra blue lights on the grille and the floodlight on the roof.

X294 SRM is a yellow Mercedes Sprinter Van, used by Cumbria Constabulary as a video van. It is of particular use in town centres to record people’s actions when pubs and clubs close. It hence doubles as a public order van.



The rear view of the same van. It has an unusual paint scheme of having white bodywork on its lower half (mostly behind the battenburg markings) and yellow on the top half.

P269 MUY is one of 5 Cumbria Vauxhall Corsas which were donated by Vauxhall for Special Constables. They originally had a red stripe with wording announcing the partnership. Full time officers wouldn’t use them, but when they were re-liveried into battenburg, they became much more popular with the full-timers, to the detriment of the Specials.

YJ04 CEF This 2004 Mercedes Benz Sprinter 316CDI is with North Yorkshire Police as a collision investigation unit.



The rear aspect. Notice the apparent lack of blue flashing lights, even though this vehicle would respond at speed to accident scenes. In fact, it has four very small blue flashing strobe bulbs drilled into the headlights’ and reversing lights’ reflectors.

YY04 ABV This red scrambler motorbike is a 125cc Honda XR125 used by a North Yorkshire PC. It was new in April 2004 and is taxed and registered for use on the roads. It is used for policing inaccessible areas such as wasteland, parkland, fields or dirt tracks as well as regular patrols such as housing estates.



The rear view, showing the top box and battenburg livery. The small squares stuck on all sides advertise the sponsoring company who have loaned the bike for one year.

N315 EUB This aging dark blue Ford Escort van is used for police support work and has been fitted with a magnetic blue flashing light. It was still operational when this photo was taken in 2004.

VE03 HGN is a red Vauxhall Astra from North Yorks. Police. It runs on LPG and is part of the force’s plan to livery all police (and support) vehicles that don’t need to be inconspicuous. This car has no blue lights or siren.

YK51 LYF This Vauxhall Corsa 1.7DI is from West Yorkshire Police. It is used for community policing and is supported by the local council. It doesn’t have any blue lights, but does come from Vauxhall Special Vehicles as it has the roof strengthener and light bar mount fitted.

YD52 RVE is an LDV Convoy demonstrator. It has two blue lights on the grille and two on each side. The sides and rear are sparsely liveried with a yellow stripe and ‘police’ wording.

VK03 WDV This is a silver MG ZT 135 CDTI police car from Warwickshire Police’s Road Policing Unit. It is very rare in the fact that it is solely used by police Specials. New in summer 2003, it was presented to the unit after a number of donations of money, parts and time..



The rear view of the same MG, showing its conspicuous livery and emergency warning lighting.



The conspicuity of the emergency lighting can be seen on this night-time shot.

YJ53 EKZ This Volvo S60 is used by North Yorkshire’s traffic police. Inset: the front view.

OY51 BKG A West Yorkshire Police Volvo S40. This vehicle started life as a demonstrator, hence the non-Yorkshire registration prefix.



The rear view. Notice the common set up on WYP traffic policing vehicle: the registration plate has been mounted on the bumper (with additional lights to illuminate it at night) and a variable message matrix sign has been put in its place. Also notice the extra red flashing lights mounted at the bottom of the bumper.

This Mercedes Sprinter riot van / personnel carrier is run by Avon and Somerset Police.

Here is a BMW 330TDI area car from Hampshire. Insets: the side views.

Another Hampshire police car: a Volvo V70 T5 used for traffic policing duties.

N7_6 OYR A Metropolitan Police Mercedes Sprinter personnel carrier keeps an eye on protestors outside the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben in Westminster, London.

P284 PYW The rear view of a similar Mercedes Benz, packed with police officers in high-visibility uniforms.

R584 ULX leads a line-up of six police riot vans stand prepared for any unrest around Parliament on the day the Hutton Report on the UK going to war against Iraq is published.

LY03 UFS The Met moved towards using more silver vehicles in 2003. This example is a Vauxhall Astra beat car.



The rear view of the same car. The idea behind using silver cars is the residual value when the time comes to sell it on. The police can expect as much as 10% more for a desirable silver coloured car than a less-desirable white car.