Does a wheelie really justify Police driving at 100mph in a 30mph limit?

Wheelies, they aren’t big, or clever, but for some reason they just make people happy. There is a time and place, though, and while we’d always advocate ‘popping a minger’ on the track, on occasion the front wheel does paw the air while riding on the road.

Should you have the misfortune, as this rider did, of popping a wheelie just as you are passing an unmarked police car, you could understandably find yourself in hot water. But it’s not the rider’s antics that have sparked a debate in this clip, it’s the actions of the police who chase down this fun-crazed lunatic in the name of the law.

The clip shows Mr Paul Bussey, 57 years young from Chertsey. Mr Bussey seems to be exiting some road works on the A25, and, as many of us have, he rolls on the noise tube and sends the front wheel skyward. As wheelies go, I’m giving it a six out of ten. Good height with smooth lift-off and nice control, just a little short on overall length - good work fella. Sadly Mr Bussey chose to wheelie past what we assume is an unmarked police car, which takes off after him.

Now with Mr Bussey out of view, we can only assume that he drove along the rest of the road obeying all of the speed limits - innocent until proven guilty, and all that. What the police car did, though, was more eye-opening. After overtaking a slower-moving car at the beginning of the clip, the police head up to motorway speeds, passing a 40mph speed limit sign at an indicated 85mph. They continue to push the car faster, eventually straddling the centre line of the road, passing a 30mph sign while doing an indicated 101mph - and that is with oncoming traffic.

They eventually catch up with Mr Bussey, who is waiting at a set of temporary traffic lights at another set of road works. They speed towards oncoming traffic (that seems to make an emergency stop) and box in the speed-crazed maniac (who is, you know, just standing there), ending what could well have been a horrific situation for all involved.

As a result of this indiscretion, Mr Busey was charged with dangerous driving and excess speed. He was ordered to undertake 80 hours of unpaid work, to be completed within 12 months, and disqualified for 12 months (all licence categories). He must now complete an extended test to obtain a licence back at the end of the disqualification. and he must pay £85 costs and £114 surcharge.

Oh, and he was charged £100 because his number plate was too small. Mustn’t forget that heinous act.

Now, my question to you is: if that copper was a regular traffic officer in that area, they’d have known that Mr Bussey would have been getting snarled back up again in traffic. Did they really need to chase him that hard and take that many risks to catch a bloke in his 50s who did a silly thing and needs telling off?

We regularly see the police calling off chases because it is deemed too dangerous to continue. Pillion not wearing a helmet? Call it off. Riding on the pavement? Call it off. There was no indication from this video, or the accompanying details of it, that Mr Bussey had done anything else to incriminate him.

Accompanying the video on social media is a post from Surrey Roadsafe. It says that the stretch of road is “subject to a high number of motorcycle collisions”, going on to say that the police receive lots of complaints from members of the public about the “manner and behaviour of all road users, but particularly motorcyclists”.

Complaints about the behaviour of “all road users.” Ah, the irony.

Find the latest motorcycle news on Visordown.com