The following information is believed to be true at time of writing, but i can in no way be responsible for any changes errors or ommissions.....So..tough, if you try to quote me in a court of law !!!!!!! Should you have any information that you feel would be useful, or is incorrect, on these pages, please mail me.

Unmarked police car

There is no getting away from them. There's a couple of things you can look for in an unmarked car, but none are guaranteed to be a big pointer. They take their time to make them ambiguous for a reason. Anyway, some things to look for:

No hubcaps. Allegedly because these might fly off in a high speed pursuit and cause third-party damage - the last thing the police need when they're trying to do their job.

Two people. Most unmarked cars seem to be staffed by pairs of policemen and women. In today's environment of single-occupant cars, this can be quite noticable.

Odd lumps. The video camera will either be suspended under the inside rearview mirror, or in a lump on the front dashboard. Or what appears to be a clear screen about the size of a tissue box on the rear shelf, this is the STOP sign that lights up ever cleverly !

Go figure. Extra lights on the tailgate or behind the radiator. But if you're close enough to see these, you're probably already in trouble.

Two rearview mirrors. They often have a second inside rearview mirror for the second officer. But not always.

A large 'box' on the rear parcel shelf. This is the width of the parcel shelf and about 10cm tall (ie a long, flat box). If the car is going to pull you over, they overtake and then the centre section of this box flips up
with a 'stop police' illuminated sign in it.

Sequential plates.As the police generally buy cars in dollops, the registration numbers are concurrent. Around your own area, memorise the various patterns and you can spot the unmarkeds. This is of limited use at a distance but it can help you at lights or whilst overtaking. Examples in Manchester J-xxx-NND, K-xxx-VNA, P-xxx-ERJ, R-xxx-SVM. Also, police plates tend not to be 'tagged', that is, no purchased from garage markings or surrounding square. This might appear to be a strange thing to notice, but when you have seen a few, they look quite odd without 'tags'.

Other possibilites:No tow bars, GB stickers or dealer window stickers. Not a complete absence of stickers though. I know several unmarked cars around my area sporting local radio station stickers and other similar items in their windows. Smaller aerials fitted to the bumpers rather than on the roof or rear window.

It's a myth that they only use 'obvious' cars. In the UK this would mean Range Rovers, Vauxhall Cavaliers etc. I've known people to be pulled over by an unmarked Volkswagen Scirocco amongst other things. Max Power magazine have also mentioned a black BMW M3 with 17inch Evolution alloys.
Hampshire police are tooling around in a burgundy Subaru Impreza turbo, mostly along the M27, kitted out with LADAR guns. They also have a de-badged dark blue BMW M3 which frequents the A3M/M27 area.This makes you wonder if the police create some of these cars deliberately to provoke speeding and racing. After all, if Chrissy Worswick pulls up at the lights in his Babemobile and sees one of those cars next to him, he's likely to race it. And then he'll be pulled. So be warned!

LISTINGS BY COUNTY......Sub-Divided by Road Number (wherever possible!)

ENGLAND

Avon

Bedfordshire

Berkshire

Buckinghamshire

Cambridgeshire

Cheshire

A562 Runcorn/Widnes Area. P283 ERJ. Navy Blue Vauxhall Vectra. Runcorn/Widnes Bridge is favourite.

A562 Runcorn/Widnes Area. P810 NRE. Navy Blue BMW 325tds Runcorn/Widnes Bridge is favourite again.

Cleveland

Cornwall

Cumbria

Derbyshire

Devon

Dorset

Durham

Essex

Gloucestershire

Hampshire

Hereford and Worcester

Hertfordshire

Humberside

Kent

Lancashire

Leicestershire

Lincolnshire

London M25

London (Greater)

London (Central)

Manchester

Manchester (Greater)

Merseyside

Liverpool City Centre Area P279 BFV. Navy Blue BMW 328i.

Liverpool City Centre Area .Plum Coloured Pan European Motorcycle.On-board camera in paniers and blues and two's well hidden.

Norfolk

Northamptonshire

Northumberland

Nottinghamshire

Oxfordshire

Shropshire

Somerset

Staffordshire

Suffolk

Surrey

Sussex (East & West)

Tyne & Wear

Warwickshire

West Midlands

Wiltshire

Yorkshire (North, South & West)

SCOTLAND

Borders

Central

Dumfries & Galloway

Fife

Grampian

Highlands

Lothian

Strathclyde

Tayside

WALES

Clwyd

Dyfed

Glamorgan (Mid)

Glamorgan (South)

Glamorgan (West)

Powys

NORTHERN IRELAND