Police Cars - Surely they should buy British??
Discussion
Hey there all.
Something which I´m sure has been raised before, but I would be very interested to hear everyone´s views....
As I travel the world for my work, I see numerous examples of countries with their own indigenous car manufacturers, who buy their own cars in order to support their own industries. And yet, when I return to Blighty, I see our cops driving around in a fair amount of Subaru´s, Peugeots, BMWs etc. I think that our Local Authorities and services should be supporting our industries and buying British. Or at least cars which are made in Britain, and therefore serving our workers and industries. Does anyone know any reason why our Police traffic cars shouldn´t be, for example, the excellent MG ZT??
Cheers,
J.
Something which I´m sure has been raised before, but I would be very interested to hear everyone´s views....
As I travel the world for my work, I see numerous examples of countries with their own indigenous car manufacturers, who buy their own cars in order to support their own industries. And yet, when I return to Blighty, I see our cops driving around in a fair amount of Subaru´s, Peugeots, BMWs etc. I think that our Local Authorities and services should be supporting our industries and buying British. Or at least cars which are made in Britain, and therefore serving our workers and industries. Does anyone know any reason why our Police traffic cars shouldn´t be, for example, the excellent MG ZT??
Cheers,
J.
quote:
On the subject of keeping things British in Britain, has anyone else seen the news story about the Inland Revenue selling all it's property, then renting it back to save costs. Top idea. Except the company they sold to are based in Bermuda (a tax haven). Doh!
There's a major tax break to be had from sale and leaseback. Also means they can move their accommodation costs from fixed to flexible in line with the size of their business (call it outsourcing!). And they get the capital gain from the sale.
But as you say, why should being diligent tax planners make us feel any more sympathetic towards those giblet-eating slimeballs. I hate them more than I hate Germaine Greer!
quote:
As far as I remember, police cars always used to be British until about 10 years ago. It is ridiculous that our taxes are now spent on buying foreign cars. And more importantly, if they were all British it would make the unmarked ones easier to spot.
Your memory is playing tricks, there have been non brit police cars since the sixties and even earlier, I remember seeing pictures of a Met Hudson from the 30's.
I think this thread was probably started by Wheeler, Crook and Morgan, other than those gentleman's companies, Taxis, Westfield, Caterham and MG I can think of few other proper car manufacturers who are British owned and make their vehicles in the UK.
You wouldn't really want to put the police into TVRs would you?
>> Edited by gnomesmith on Monday 23 September 21:51
quote:
Hey there all.
And yet, when I return to Blighty, I see our cops driving around in a fair amount of Subaru´s, Peugeots, BMWs etc. I think that our Local Authorities and services should be supporting our industries and buying British.
No. The coppers have a legal responsibility to the tax
payers to buy the best car for the job
(over various parameters).
Which is why they buy non-UK cars sometimes.
Of course, you may have the view that long term
this does UK plc no good at all.
But then they are just buying the best in the market
for a short term gain.
BTW, the Germans aren't like this. They recognise
the long term benefits of keeping the money in the country.
Hence top-spec BMW, M-B & Porsche are two a penny over
there.
Or at least cars which are made in Britain, and therefore serving our workers and industries. Does anyone know any reason why our Police traffic cars shouldn´t be, for example, the excellent MG ZT??
Cheers,
J.
quote:
Hey there all.
Something which I´m sure has been raised before, but I would be very interested to hear everyone´s views....
As I travel the world for my work, I see numerous examples of countries with their own indigenous car manufacturers, who buy their own cars in order to support their own industries. And yet, when I return to Blighty, I see our cops driving around in a fair amount of Subaru´s, Peugeots, BMWs etc. I think that our Local Authorities and services should be supporting our industries and buying British. Or at least cars which are made in Britain, and therefore serving our workers and industries. Does anyone know any reason why our Police traffic cars shouldn´t be, for example, the excellent MG ZT??
Cheers,
J.
so presumably
- if there are no suitable and appropriately priced british cars, you are happy to pay additional council tax for the privilege?
- you have a British car?
Personally I agree with buying British, do it whenever I can, but it seems an old-fashioned attitude
R
>> Edited by yum on Monday 23 September 22:04
Its all down to cost cutting, one force replaced all there rangerovers and discoverys with nissans, and the new one apparrently for the met police is that in order to get a better resale value on there cars,they are changing from customry white to silver.That will be for three years then they will change to red for three years and then to black
There may be only a handfull of wholely British car companies, but there are many cars designed and manufactured in the UK that the cops should be using. Ok the profits may go abroad, but at least the work and skill are being maintained in the UK. Why are cops buying Isuzu troopers or those silly Mercedes 4x4s - nobody can tell me they're more competent than Landrovers....
Are we talking cars made by 100% British owned companies or simple cars that are "made in Britain" because we are getting into confusion land here.
Peugeot has a plant in Britain as do Ford, GM and numerous Japanese manufacturers so therfore their cars that are mad here create British jobs and benefit the UK economy. However MG are currently looking at moving a large percentage of their production to Poland which I'm sure will be good for the companies bottom line (think Dyson to Malaysia) but will only really benefit the share holders not the UK economy as a whole to the same degree as the "foreign" manufacturers.
Peugeot has a plant in Britain as do Ford, GM and numerous Japanese manufacturers so therfore their cars that are mad here create British jobs and benefit the UK economy. However MG are currently looking at moving a large percentage of their production to Poland which I'm sure will be good for the companies bottom line (think Dyson to Malaysia) but will only really benefit the share holders not the UK economy as a whole to the same degree as the "foreign" manufacturers.
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