Police watchdog calls for national guidelines on alternative way to hide blue lights when not in use following car crash

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Police officers have been using nylon tights to cover up discreet blue lights fitted on unmarked cars to make it harder for members of the public to spot them when they are switched off.

But now the police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), has called for national guidelines on how to hide the blue lights when not in use after a crash involving an unmarked car in which tights had been used.

A North Wales police (NWP) driver was injured in a collision after a goods vehicle moved into his path when the police car’s flashing blue lights, installed in the front grille, were on.

An investigation by the force concluded that covering the blue lights with tights had dimmed them and may have contributed to the crash. The IOPC was called in to carry out an inquiry and found that nylon tights were used by a number of forces.

The NWP officer was in a police BMW on a dual carriageway when he was called to an incident and the blue grille lights were turned on.

A light goods vehicle moved into his lane and the police BMW collided with a HGV in a layby. The officer suffered serious injuries.

The collision investigation found there was a significant reduction in the brightness of the lights because of the tights. It was judged that the nylon covers could not be ruled out as a contributory factor as they had made it extremely difficult for the driver of the light goods vehicle to identify the vehicle behind as a police car responding to an incident.

In a statement the IOPC said: “Our investigation identified that there is no national standardisation for covering lights and, as a result, a number of police forces are using various methods including nylon tights.

“Modifications are being made without any form of scientific testing to examine the effect of any coverings on the level of brightness when the emergency lights are turned on.”

The IOPC director for Wales, Catrin Evans, said: “When police forces attempt to make unmarked police cars less visible, they need to adopt a standardised approach.

“Any modifications made ought to be tested and approved by experts rather than using ad hoc solutions that may not be the safest method.”

The IOPC found no case to answer for the officers involved in covering the grille lights with nylon tights due to the lack of any national policy or guidance. No members of the public were hurt in the collision.

The National Police Chiefs Council has commissioned a working group to produce a new policy.