Speeding in N England!!

[hobby]

Mrs Hobby received the following today and thought you might find the tale amusing:

Cop this for a speeding ticket...

Two British traffic patrol officers from North Berwick were involved in an unusual incident, while checking for speeding motorists on the A-1 North.

One of the officers (who are not named) used a hand-held radar device to check the speed of a vehicle approaching over the crest of a hill, and was surprised when the speed was recorded at over 300mph.

The machine then stopped working and the officers were not able to reset it.

The radar had in fact latched on to a NATO Tornado fighter jet over the North Sea, which was engaged in a low-flying exercise over the Border district.

Back at police headquarters the chief constable fired off a stiff complaint to the RAF Liaison office.

Back came the reply in true laconic RAF style.

"Thank you for your message, which allows us to complete the file on this incident. You may be interested to know that the tactical computer in the Tornado had automatically locked on to your 'hostile radar equipment' and sent a jamming signal back to it. Furthermore, the Sidewinder Air-to-ground missiles aboard the fully-armed aircraft had also locked on to the target. Fortunately the Dutch pilot flying the Tornado responded to the missile status alert intelligently and was able to override the automatic protection system before the missile was launched and blew the officers up".

[Techy111]

tonka "skol"

LOL

Tony

[TSR2]

tonka

[RobDob]

I've heard many a variation on that story over the years.......not sure whether it's 'urban-legend' or the chinese whisper effect! Very amusing though!

[AllanL]

Last time I checked North Berwick was significantly North of North England.

Cue intemperate raging/ranting/flames/bans/nuclear war? Oh sorry that's "another place".

[forthbridge]

Amusing but of course false. Sidewinder air to ground missiles?

I would also hate to be in a car that got lit up by a radar powerful enough to track a Tornado over the North Sea - unless I wanted to glow like a belisha beacon..... :o

[Keith Jones]

not sure whether it's 'urban-legend'

It is. http://www.snopes.com/horrors/techno/radar.asp

It's still a good one, though.