Page 1 of 2

Wing illegal??

Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 8:21 pm
by JP_Tuner
So I got pulled over today by some MOD police that work on RAF Mildenhall/RAF Lakenheath. The told me that I have a short in my rear tail light which I'm glad they told me about but then they told me that my wing was illegal and must come off imediately. They said that my wing is not allowed to be any wider than where the car starts to taper up. They also said that it was dangerous to pedestrians walking by who could get hit by my wing. I was pretty shocked that they told me this. It doesn't even stick out past the fenders. So, are they right and should I take off the wing or are they wrong? Sorry for the rant, and thanks for any insight you guys can give me.

Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 9:13 pm
by Rob S
A photo would help :)

ANY sharp edges are illegal, and I can't see it being illegal as long as it's narrower than the shoulders of the car. Problem is, anything modified could be seen as outside of construction and use regs, where did you get the spoiler from or is it home made as such? Maybe the manufacturer have some form of documentatio proving legislative compliance........

Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 9:35 pm
by JP_Tuner
Sorry about that. Here are some pictures. They aren't the best of angles so I'll try to take some tomorrow and post them. Also, the wing is a SARD Fuji GT Spec M. I bought it from rhdjapan.com. Thanks again for any help.

Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 9:42 pm
by Stuart
I seem to remember that Dave's spoiler is a high end Japanese model, great quality and style (in my opinion) Pretty sure it's not illegal but I guess it could fall foul of a jobsworth

Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 9:49 pm
by Stuart
If that does prove to be illegal, I think it could look pretty good on a non-road legal BMW :D

Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 9:53 pm
by Daniel
one question springs to mind, are Military police qualified to determine what is legal on a car and what isn't? surely thats down to the traffic police.

Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 10:01 pm
by JP_Tuner
Yeah, they said that if I was spotted by suffolk police that I would deffinately get pulled over and issued a ticked and fined. I wanted to say so many things to him but I figured I would behave myself and just go along with what he was saying. But now I'm kind of scared to drive it to work. I don't want to have to go through it all over again if the same guy spots me with my spoiler again.

Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 10:03 pm
by Stuart
See if you can find an MOT tester Dave and get them to check. They should be able to advise you of any legal issues of road worthiness; maybe even get them to write a statement if they support you.

Or sell it to me cheap ;)

Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 10:08 pm
by JP_Tuner
I just had the car MOT'd right after I got it back from the body shop and they never mentioned anything about the wing. I even told the officer that. He just had a shocked and confused look on his face and kept pressing on with the illegal bit. I am going to try and stop by the MOT center this weekend and see what they say about this whole situation.

Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 10:12 pm
by Daniel
It is true that suffolk police are very picky about things, but that said they also can tell the difference between a proper performance car and a mc donalds special and therefore use their discretion. knowing that everything on a car like yours will be above board and not dangerous, than a old punto with a dodgy fitting kit.

at the end of the day, if he isnt UK traffic police, then he has no say on the matter whatsoever as he won't be trained to dispense that kind of advice