What was your call sign on Road Wars?
Initially TV35 for a year or so then TV33 with RomaWhat’s your nickname?
AbboWhy did you become a police officer?
It was always something I wanted to do from a child. My Grandfather was a cop too – in sunny Birmingham where Carl is from.What’s your favourite part of the job?
My favourite part of the job was catching liars out. They would feed you all the cock and bull about having a driving licence and insurance but the checks available now mean it is easy to find out they talking porkies.What was your favourite RW moment that you were in?
The funniest stop check that we did was on the coughing drink driver. He didn’t like it when Tom the cameraman started filming him. He became rather upset in custody. There were plenty of other moments that were never filmed – like Roma running a bloke over with TV33 as he ran off from me! He still got up and ran off!What was your favourite RW moment of another officer’s?
There are two that come to mind–Webbo being caught out by the front in-car camera. Not many people have been seen/caught out picking their nose on National TV.
The other was when Carlos and Conrad chase the Shop Burglar through Slough and he is decked by some members of the public. I didn’t think Conrad could run – he normally eats people instead and I can’t believe Carl was able to run those dancing shoes he wears!
There’s plenty of other non RW’s moments like Pat, Mark (TV37) and a sachet of brown sauce! Now that was funny (Sorry Mark not for you) I’ll let Pat tell you the rest…
What was it like being followed by a camera crew?
Tom the camera man was and is a top man. He is of the same age as Webbo and I and thus the in-car humour was interesting to say the least.If you weren’t a police officer, what do you think you would be doing?
Well I’m no longer a Cop as I got fed up with all the politics, bureaucracy and the new recruiting standards have a lot to answer for. Webbo thinks I’m repairing shopping trollies for some reason - yeah right whatever! Let’s put it this way I’m working less hours, earning more money and retiring sooner than I would in the Police.Which of the cars did you like driving the best? (thinking Omegas vs. Vectras etc!)
I drove two Omega’s - initially TV35 the Silver Shadow then I had TV33 with Roma– now that was an old 3 litre V6 as opposed to the 3.2 V6. She went like stink - the car not Romes in case you are thinking otherwise! The only downside to TV33 was that it sat very low to the ground and consequently it used to ground out on every speed hump! Ronnie killed her in the end on the M1 when he let it roll into a marked Vectra.The 2.8 Turbo Vectra is a hell of a lot quicker – 160mph no sweat. The Omegas were a good car, they had plenty of room for things like Taxi signs (You’ll probably see it in the boot in the episode where the bloke hits the side of 35 outside the pub!) and could take a battering when we hit things. The Vectras are a little more fragile and don’t like water which I unfortunately found out with a 6 day old marked car – now that’s another story.
