this website is not owned by the Highways Agency. This site is unofficial and features the views of Traffic Officers which are their own personal opinions and personal views only.
| | NOTICE this website is not owned by the Highways Agency. This site is unofficial and features the views of Traffic Officers which are their own personal opinions and personal views only. |
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 all in the day of a HATO join us on the forums for top HATO chat, advice and the latest news! Our forums regularly see the latest rumours, fears and worries of the H.A guys and gals who hit the UK's motorways each and every day. SO! JOIN US! | |||||||||
| [text blocked] means that words which occurred in the interview have been withheld in the security interests either of the individual speaking, or the national traffic site itself, please do not ask for these words to be revealed as more than likely you will receive no reply at all or a curt reply telling you what to do [interrupting] the person speaking now, talked over the one before [laughing] chortling sniggering or cackling are all included in the broad term ‘laughing’ |
falkor: hello there Don
TheWanderer: hello there mate how are you?
falkor: okayish thanks for phoning
TheWanderer: that's not a problem, I was just having a flick through waiting for the email back I thought it's getting on for two
falkor: oh top man [text blocked]
TheWanderer: [text blocked]
falkor: here have you done any 5 - 1 shifts lately?
TheWanderer: can't stand earlies
falkor: oh they're earlies are they, oh my god I was thinking it was 5pm to 1am
TheWanderer: no they're AM jobbies
falkor: which are your best ones then?
TheWanderer: I like my nights actually
falkor: yeah?
TheWanderer: not a great deal going on but they are good
falkor: yeah you can get an atmsophere going there can't you
TheWanderer: yeah it's always good because you know it's either going to be really dead, or you know you'll get something really juicy at night
falkor: yeah and if you go into your outstation the flippin place is deserted isn't it?
TheWanderer: yeah that's it
falkor: anyway you've seen WorldWidePolice haven't you?
TheWanderer: I have
falkor: you've been on there and undoubtedly you've been on a few other forums
TheWanderer: yep
falkor: so have you seen anything on WorldWidePolice or the other forums that you think might be good to bring over to national Traffic?
TheWanderer: to be honest I've been dedicated onto NT of recent, so I've not really been snooping around anywhere else
falkor: were you on WorldWidePolice for quite a while then Don?
TheWanderer: I was for a long time back in the early days
falkor: you were?
TheWanderer: I was on there and on emergencyservicesonline as well and obviously that upped and slipped into all oblivion
falkor: why?
TheWanderer: I've no idea - I just know that Nick the guy that was running it - he just closed it down overnight and it was gone
falkor: that's terrible isn't it?
TheWanderer: we've got quite a few members actually on national Traffic, that I do know from emergencyservicesonline
falkor: my god it's just a tragedy when something like that happens isn't it?
TheWanderer: it is
falkor: do you know the fire services forums
TheWanderer: I'm not familiar with those no
falkor: I think there's one member on the site at the moment that goes to 'em, but I joined the fire services forums a couple of years back and they're ever so strict
TheWanderer: I'm told though that the guys on there are quite open as well aren't they?
falkor: yeah but you try talking about like "Off Topic," like playstation and stuff like that, they won't have it!
TheWanderer: okay so they're sort of "on the job" all the time basically
falkor: no they won't have it - there's no "Off Topic" section at all
falkor: ah I just remembered, they did bring in an "Off Topic" for their subscribers only, that's fairly recent, but if you're a bog standard member ...
falkor: and another thing about those fire services forums which I could not believe - remember when we crashed earlier in the month? well they had a crash like that on fire services forums November 2004 and then they just started all over again!
falkor: they started all over again Don! they started from post 1 again!
TheWanderer: to be honest I think I remember emergencyservicesonline doing that as well at one point
falkor: that is absolutely - well it's a crime isn't it?
falkor: all those posts are just GONE? not only are all the posts gone but all the members have got to reregister - I know it's not much when you think about it - but it's just crazy
falkor: the only thing you can think about is that the bloke never had any back ups!
TheWanderer: yeah it's just having somebody like yourself who knows what they're doing, to actually keep the site running
TheWanderer: I suppose some of the guys on there have just set the forums up and don't really have a clue what the consequences of a crash are
falkor: well the big shame of it is, is that when you start out on one of those forums there isn't anybody coming around every few days saying "oh by the way have you done this" or "oh by the way have you done that" and I think you can fall into the trap of feeling like a really big boss sort of thing and the next thing you know there's a crash and then of course you go to the site hosts - the owners of the site - and say well can you restore my forums? and they say CERTAINLY! send us the back up and you say BACK UP? [laughing]
TheWanderer: [laughing]
falkor: [laughing] and this is exactly what happens y'know and the poor old newbie administrator is completely oblivious anyway better move on to something faintly resembling Traffic Officer stuff
TheWanderer: yep
falkor: Dartford River Crossing Police / Traffic Officers do you know anything about them?
TheWanderer: I don't know a great deal, I've been over and through the crossing a couple of times towards round the M25 and I know they've got some nice Landrover 90s with nice blue lights on the top
falkor: yeah but which are they Don? is it Dartford River Crossing Police or Dartford River Crossing Traffic Officers?
TheWanderer: no they're Traffic Officers and from what I can gather, they're employed by the actual crossing operator who are obviously responsible for it on behalf of the Highways Agency
falkor: really? on behalf of the Highways Agency?
TheWanderer: they do a very similar role to ourselves
falkor: yeah?
TheWanderer: just basically under slightly different legislation, there is a specific Dartford River Crossing Regulations or something along those lines - they've got a separate statutory instrument which give them their powers to work
falkor: you like their vehicles do you Don?
TheWanderer: I do like their vehicles. I don't think the 90s would be brilliant for use on big stretches of motorway, but definitely for the pulling power in the small areas
falkor: and they've got blue lights
TheWanderer: they've got blue lights on them and if they can have 'em why can't we?
falkor: I think they're police y'know
TheWanderer: no no they're definitely employed by the crossing operator
falkor: so they're Traffic Officers
TheWanderer: they're Traffic Officers
falkor: and they've got blue lights
TheWanderer: yep definitely
falkor: have they got sirens or anything?
TheWanderer: I've no idea, I've seen the blues but I've not had the opportunity to see them for long enough to know whether they have sirens
falkor: what sort of uniforms have they got?
TheWanderer: again I've not seen the actual guys I've just seen the vehicles but I'm reliably informed that they've got the white peaked caps
falkor: moving swiftly on to the Rollercoaster thread Don - I notice that you entered the thread the other day
TheWanderer: yes
falkor: but did not say whether you'd been on a rollercoaster
TheWanderer: I didn't
falkor: [laughing]
TheWanderer: I've been on "oblivion"
falkor: oblivion?!
TheWanderer: yeah I've been on oblivion at Alton Towers back when I was at college
falkor: and you chucked up
TheWanderer: under much duress I'm not a big fan of rollercoasters
falkor: no
TheWanderer: I wasn't particularly well afterwards
falkor: no and I've seen quite a few of those crazy rides and I'm thinking "yeah I'm gonna chuck up on that one" and there's no point going on it is there?
TheWanderer: well that's it I didn't want to go on it, it was pressure of a couple of friends at the time, y'know peer pressure
falkor: well I've been on the "Vampire Ride" at Chessington World of Adventures I gotta say about half a dozen times over the years
TheWanderer: right
falkor: but I think it's one of their oldest rollercoaster rides going - I gotta say I spent about half an hour looking up the Vampire Ride on the internet the other day and they've had to upgrade it and do a lot of work on it but it's still there
falkor: Ever been over there Don?
TheWanderer: I've not been to Chessington actually, but it's always good when you get a classic ride that's been kept there for many years
falkor: yeah but their overcrowding has just got worse and worse - I mean you go in there anytime Don and it is wall to wall people
TheWanderer: yeah there's just queues everywhere, but obviously the park owners don't care as long as they're getting the people through the gates
falkor: they couldn't give a poxy monkeys
TheWanderer: y'know you get some of the smaller theme parks, some of the really poor ones and they seem to be pay per ride and that seems to be better for the person actually going because with the likes of Chessington and Alton Towers you've paid all your money up front
falkor: yeah
TheWanderer: but you can't necessarily get on to any of the rides all day
falkor: I know you say that but I've gotta say I do prefer paying it all up front y'know
TheWanderer: yeah I suppose you know what you're spending, but it's a case of making sure that you're getting your value for money
falkor: and then of course the other side of the coin is that they then take advantage of that don't they
TheWanderer: yeah
falkor: anyway regarding YouTube and the motorway videos ...
falkor: have you seen a few?
TheWanderer: I've seen a few of them actually I saw the recent one with the hunter
falkor: yeah?
TheWanderer: the mickey take out of the crocodile hunter
falkor: oh god I missed that one, where's that?
TheWanderer: it's on there somewhere, we've got a link to it - no we haven't got a link to it from the forum, it's the one that you actually sent me the link about
falkor: did I?
TheWanderer: yeah
falkor: [laughing] oh my god I don't remember seeing it
TheWanderer: I think someone had raised some concerns about it and you sent the link across and we all agreed that it wasn't actually Traffic Officers that were on it
falkor: the crocodile hunter?
TheWanderer: I think it was called Traffic Management hunter
falkor: ah I know the one you mean now - you know what? I thought you were talking about that bloke in Australia, the bloke who died
TheWanderer: good old Steve Irwin
falkor: oh I really liked him
TheWanderer: they did a micky take out of him though
falkor: ah of course! that's who they were taking the micky out of I'm as thick as two planks I am
TheWanderer: [laughing]
falkor: no I know exactly what you're talking about now but that bloke Steve Irwin I tell you what I was so gutted when he got killed y'know
TheWanderer: it was a weird way to go y'know with all the various animals that he's got close to over the years
falkor: that was crazy
TheWanderer: and it was one of the more harmless ones that actually finished him
falkor: I was just totally speechless because I'm just a fan of all his programmes
falkor: I know he was a bit crazy holding his kiddie up just like Michael Jackson did, didn't he?
TheWanderer: yeah he did yeah
falkor: I mean no one likes that do they? why did he have to do that? that's totally uncalled for but that was the only thing that I think you can criticise him for
TheWanderer: it was probably a publicity stunt
falkor: I think that everyone who calls him a twat for that is right but as for the rest of it ... absolutely brilliant
falkor: but they didn't actually play a lot of his programmes after he died did they?
TheWanderer: no
falkor: do you think they did?
falkor: they should have done
TheWanderer: there's still a few knocking around on sky but no they seem to have dried up
falkor: well that's totally wrong isn't it? I mean I always expect when someone pops their clogs, that they're going to put all their programmes back on TV, they have done with other people haven't they? no I've gotta say I was a bit disapointed about that
falkor: so what about these cover shifts then?
TheWanderer: I'm lucky enough that I don't have to do them
falkor: you're excused cover shifts?
TheWanderer: well we don't do them at our outstation
falkor: oh right
TheWanderer: one of the outstations in our region does but basically we're all 24/7 at our outstation
falkor: there's so many variations I just can't keep up with it all I tell ya
TheWanderer: as far as I know within our region, they're trying to get some stability and get everybody onto the same shift
pattern
falkor: so your outstation doesn't need them and that's as simple as that
TheWanderer: I think the good thing with it, is that where there's a mixture of shift patterns ...
falkor: yeah
TheWanderer: it enables better resilience across the regions, but I think cover shifts are a real waste, because a lot of the time the guys are going in but the early turn already have all the vehicles out, so they're just stuck around the outstation doing admin
falkor: are they? SOUNDS GREAT TO ME
TheWanderer: because there's no vehicle for them
falkor: what's wrong with that? sounds brilliant!
falkor: [laughing]
TheWanderer: yeah but we get paid to go out on the road, we're not supposed to be sitting around in the outstation
falkor: yeah I know I'm only joking but I think if I was a Traffic Officer I'd be quietly thinking to myself "well there's the rough and there's the smooth"
falkor: anyway, let's talk about the interview stage ... I noticed that you put a post on the other day about getting into Traffic Officer work and you said about a 45 minute grilling - I didn't quite understand what that meant, is that in regard to the assessment or the interview?
TheWanderer: it's the interview don't worry it's not like take you down the local kebab house and try and skewer you or anything
falkor: [laughing] so it's a 45 minute grilling? it's that bad?
TheWanderer: well you've got basically a panel of two when you go for your interview stage and it's just more like rapid fire questions
falkor: oh great
TheWanderer: rather than an interview
falkor: for 45 minutes?
TheWanderer: yeah you can't get a word in edgeways, apart from actually answering what they're asking
falkor: that is a long time, 45 minutes is bloody long
TheWanderer: I felt mentally exhausted when I came out of mine, they just keep pressing you about the things that you've actually told them about in the past
falkor: do they? they sort of go over your application form basically
TheWanderer: yep
falkor: bloody hell Don did you ask them anything?
TheWanderer: I didn't get a chance to be honest
falkor: [laughing]
TheWanderer: until right near the very end because it is it's just like rapid fire from them. y'know answer this answer that, give me an example of when you, it just felt like forever while I was in there
falkor: I've gotta say that my impression of getting into the Highways Agency as a Traffic Officer is bloody tough, that's my opinion and I've actually got mates who have written in for an interview for a HATO and they've never even had a reply
TheWanderer: I remember you saying actually that you've had people who'd never even had acknowledgement of their application
falkor: so they've just given up and looked elsewhere
falkor: I think it's a very competetive thing to get into personally
TheWanderer: well I think it is too. well I know in our region there were 20 odd posts going and there were 900+ applications with only 72 getting to the assessment centre
falkor: wow
falkor: so .... John Child. You actually quoted his name on the forums the other day
TheWanderer: I did quote John's name yeah
falkor: well you might be interested to know that he's actually done a bit of work for us in the last couple of days
falkor: He's upgraded the GreenMylon logo
falkor: Did you know the GreenMylon logo Don?
TheWanderer: yeah is it the basketball ones now, I did notice those
falkor: no no the logo for the site
TheWanderer: ah right because I use subSilver which is probably why I've not seen it
falkor: ah well if you go into GreenMylon there's a logo on there, which has been ripped from the calendar do you remember one of the months from the calendar has got a lady Traffic Officer stopping the batmobile?
TheWanderer: I have yes
falkor: well I just ripped that out of there and plonked it at the top for GreenMylon and I was looking at it actually a few times and I thought it's not very wide y'know and I thought it's not really wide enough for the page so I emailed John Child and I said is it possible to make this a bit wider? I don't know what with put a police car in there or another traffic car just something and he said yes I'm going to add Robin to it and he said as you're using it for the site so now we've got Batman AND Robin standing at the side of the road [laughing]
TheWanderer: I'm really going to have to go in and have a look at that
falkor: but first of all he sent it as a JPG so what you had was that white background and sometimes it looks a bit hard so I emailed him back and said John thanks ever so much for doing it, it looks bloody good but can you make it a GIF because as far as I know only with the GIF can you have a transparent background y'know so now - he's done it - with that logo you've got the batmobile and traffic officer and the background of the site is actually shining right through the whole scene
falkor: that is so much better to me
TheWanderer: what a quality bit of work that
falkor: well he keeps on doing these things for us you know, he's a lovely bloke old John Child
TheWanderer: I've emailed John myself actually and I keep meaning to take him up on his offer of doing me a personalised cartoon
falkor: Yeah I saw you wrote about that, an A4 cartoon that's a fairly good size isn't it?
TheWanderer: yeah
falkor: you're gonna go for that are you?
TheWanderer: I'm going to go for that, it's just a case of working out what I want on it
falkor: another thing is that Tricky and you were having a bit of a chat on the forums about badges for £2.50
TheWanderer: we have. Funnily enough I've just posted on there I've found somebody else that does keyrings and all sorts
falkor: what sort of badges are we talking about? what is the result going to be then?
TheWanderer: well everyone seems to be hooked on the muttley logo at the moment
falkor: oh they do yeah, you included Don you as well!
falkor: so you're gonna have that done are ya?
TheWanderer: well the badges I was looking at I'm actually struggling to source now
TheWanderer: but I've found another guy who's doing the badges and the keyrings in a set and I've just put some pictures on the forum regarding them actually
falkor: oh brilliant
TheWanderer: and they're a really really high quality metal badge about an inch square with the logo encased under a plastic bubble coating
falkor: fair enough, sounds good to me
TheWanderer: the keyrings are similar, they work out at about a fiver a set, they are good and I'm chatting to the guy at the moment trying to get a discount on them
falkor: good luck with that Don
TheWanderer: the car stickers thing I've put on hold for the moment
falkor: yeah I saw you said that
TheWanderer: but that's not a problem either. that's a five minute job when I actually do go ahead with getting hold of the materials printed for it because I got a really good price on that as well
falkor: nice one you're getting things done
TheWanderer: the hardest bit's working out the distribution because of obviously the people are concerned about giving out their personal details
falkor: I thought this was going to come next you know - I actually considered that. I thought "yeah I'm gonna stay quiet about that" I thought that might be an issue
TheWanderer: but the guy who's looking at doing the badges, he's got his own little e-bay shop as well so if I can get him to hold my art work there he'll be able to just send them out to individuals rather than me be stuck in the middle
falkor: ah excellent that sounds like the business to me Don
falkor: here when we go back to when all this kicked off back in September, can you believe it's six months ago?
falkor: SIX MONTHS AGO
TheWanderer: it's really hard to realise it was six months ago. from when I've joined the job time has really flown
falkor: yeah? it's sad isn't it [laughing]
TheWanderer: y'know I'm all official on a permanent contract now and it's just all so long ago
falkor: when did that happen?
TheWanderer: what my permanent contract?
falkor: yeah
TheWanderer: fairly recently
falkor: right
TheWanderer: it's all formal and above board now
falkor: so you're not taken on on a permanent contract when you first join?
TheWanderer: no we basically have a year's probation. Thinking about the way some of the PCSOs were operating, some were being taken on on 3 year temporary set ups weren't they?
falkor: correct
TheWanderer: we have a year's probation before we get a permanent contract
falkor: well I suppose that's fairly standard actually to be quite honest
TheWanderer: it's a standard service thing for a government department
falkor: but going back to September when we kicked off the site do you remember it was just me and you on there wasn't it?
TheWanderer: it was and then we had a couple of your guys from national-pcsos come across to have a look
falkor: that's it yeah
TheWanderer: and then we had a few more bods I recruited a few
falkor: Charl_Hunter turned up, he turned up next didn't he?
TheWanderer: he did yeah and it's really weird, that I've got no idea where Charl came across the site from
falkor: he did say
TheWanderer: he's been a real expert really on anything medical
falkor: oh he's been a joy to have hasn't he
TheWanderer: then we had good old Blackrat who's quietened down of recent, I think he's been seconded to some sneaky beaky stuff because I've not seen him on the road of late
falkor: oh my god that's sad isn't it?
falkor: but we had no idea how it was going to go Don did we?
TheWanderer: no
falkor: we had no clue at all, for all we knew it was just going to be a lame duck
TheWanderer: that was it and with what had happened with the other forums and you sent me a copy of the email from one of our members
falkor: oh we can't talk about that on here Don
TheWanderer: [text blocked]
falkor: [laughing]
TheWanderer: obviously you know you sent me a copy from that and what a good turn out
falkor: flippin heck, it's looking good isn't it
TheWanderer: yep
falkor: looking good
falkor: SO: we've got Shoguns, Landcruisers, Grandis, Pathfinders, Discoveries, is that the lot?
TheWanderer: there's still a couple of Range Rovers knocking about from what I can gather
falkor: which is your best?
TheWanderer: well I'm unlucky really because I don't get an option of the Discovery but I do like the Landcruisers and I'm a big fan of the Shoguns as well, they may have a tractor engine in but the Shoguns are very good for their pulling power in more ways than one
falkor: you've come across that have you?
TheWanderer: oh yes
falkor: when was the last time?
TheWanderer: couple of weeks ago, actually while it was nice and sunny unfortunately though they were too busy chatting my colleague up
falkor: were they?
TheWanderer: yes
falkor: well I think we'll have to leave it at that Don. Thanks ever so much for phoning through
TheWanderer: no problem falkor no worries
falkor: that's 22 minutes
TheWanderer: there you go
falkor: brilliant
falkor: thanks very much
TheWanderer: alright falkor
falkor: see you back on the site
falkor: cheers bye
TheWanderer: okay thanks!
falkor: cheers – bye!
| # | site | member | interview date | GO TO | includes |
| 1 | national Traffic | Race Track | 27.3.07 | V I E W | ever pressed the emergency button? risk of litigation on RRBs 12½% shift allowance or 20% shift allowance PITO | the site before NT national-PCSOs early days |
| 2 | national-PCSOs | alihowe | 27.3.07 | V I E W | dogs and cats | street wardens | 3 litre Capri | Granada 2.8 Ghia Lotus as a summer project judo for PCSOs going over to the dark side heavy confrontation | actually doing crime reports |
| 3 | national-PCSOs |  GlynB | 27.3.07 | V I E W | UNISON PCSO working group Drum and Bugle Corps | South Yorkshire Police Band PCSOs can go onto age 65? | membership of UNISON Met Police's PCSOs are gradually replacing Station Officers lower pay for PCSOs? | zig zag lines PCSOs being issued with batons etc |
| 4 | national Traffic | mondeoman | 28.3.07 | V I E W | Gist logistics | Prospect, union Police ride ons verbal abuse in the course of your duties the site before NT | we’ll be traffic police get rid of all the PCSOs |
| 5 | national Traffic | Tricky | 30.3.07 | V I E W | Major Incident Training Dartford River Crossing Police cooking | Accuracy Brevity and Clarity Muttley in the hi-vis French | spam | Dr Who |
| 6 | national Traffic | pongolad | 30.3.07 | V I E W | caravans | legless on the motorway United Nations Bosnia TSCOs tropical fish |
| 7 | national Traffic | Keokeo | 31.3.07 | V I E W | the problem of passwords and usernames firefox V IE | subMerged H.A. model of Toyota Landcruiser Silverstone grand prix | night security maglite | driving instructor | CSMA | Blues Brothers Bradford's media museum | a windy Thursday |
| 8 | national-PCSOs | micky | 1.4.07 | V I E W | 'PCSO observers' | s59 seizing a car offduty | 'pointless taxi productions' challenging people to races access to crimint and CRIS PCSOs being posted to the front office the 2004 survey! |
| 9 | national-PCSOs | CIDB | 1.4.07 | V I E W | Kew Gardens 2005 | £80 PNDs PCSO ANPR operator | seizing for no insurance XBOX 360 | shoplifters going to the gym 4 times a week a power to detain, but without using force UNISON | handcuffing someone |
| 10 | national Traffic | Guinness Man | 1.4.07 | V I E W | police rideons | incident support units Traffic Officer grade assessors caravanning Rover TC and the Rover 3500S union | bank holiday working |
| 11 | national Traffic | TheWanderer | 30.3.07 | V I E W | WorldWidePolice | emergencyservicesonline Dartford River Crossing Police rollercoasters YouTube and the motorway videos cover shifts | John Child car stickers and metal badges |
| # | site | member | interview date | GO TO | includes |
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