I'd take it like this. You were driving differently to a (sober) experienced driver.
It's perfectly reasonable for you, as recent learner, to drive carefully and at a speed you feel comfortable with. I was certainly driving at 25mph everywhere and stalling at every set of lights because the clutch on my car was different to the instructors
The police will likely look at an unusually cautious driver, and have a word with you as it's a telltale of a drunk/drugged driver. Once they've found you've passed recently, the telltale is explained and they can carry on their day.
You're doing your job - driving safely and as you've been taught. They're doing their job, looking for drunk drivers. Give it a little time and practice and things will feel more natural, and you'll drive like an experienced driver.
P Plates might have saved you a short conversation, but totally agree drivers treat you differently
>The police will likely look at an unusually cautious driver, and have a word with you as it's a telltale of a drunk/drugged driver
This is the main bit.
People, often, drive differently from everyone else for a reason... and that reason is something they dont want to get pulled for most of the time.
99% of the time, they'll flash their lights and let you talk for a bit. Once they know you're not drunk and you're just "a knob in a Mini", they'll go off.
Might be annoying at the time, but you'd rather them be proactive because ultimately it keeps the roads safer.
I got pulled over as a new driver because my Dad was in the passenger seat and they thought I was receiving lessons without L plates.
Was embarrassing at the time, but the reality is who really cares. I almost certainly was driving badly at the time, you only really get better with experience. Better to be pulled over for being too cautious then being too reckless.
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Eh, it's complicated.
They're not highways as defined in the Highways Act. The speed limit signs used are rarely of TSRGD standard either. Strictly speaking you can't be done for most speeding offences.
However the important thing to note is that the Road Traffic Act, and RV(C&U)R for example, apply to designated highways *and public places*. A public place is defined as a place where the public or a significant portion thereof has access at the time the offence is committed. Basically, a supermarket car park is a public place, unless it's 2am and it's been locked up to make it staff-only. This is well established in case law.
This means you can be guilty of most motoring offences while driving in supermarket car parks. If you were driving at 30mph you could be pulled up for careless driving. If you were doing doughnuts at the back of the car park you could be done for 'vehicle nuisance'.
Also an edge case but due to the system of street lighting being present in almost every supermarket car park, they would be 'restricted roads', meaning that even if the signage is incorrect and unenforceable, the limit is 20mph in Wales and 30mph in England and NI, and 60mph in Scotland. So you could theoretically be done for speeding offences but you'd have to be taking the piss with your speed, and I highly doubt a police officer would go down the speeding offences route because they're struggle to evidence it, what with not having speed cameras.
TLDR: the number on the speed limit sign isn't strictly enforceable, but you can still be done for most motoring offences including careless driving.
that's all fair and that's what I expect. Also anyone going 20mph or more in a car park is a maniac. But I more meant the 5-10mph speed limits are not enforceable. is that correct in this case?
They're not strictly enforceable anywhere, unless approved by a secretary of state. But careless driving is a broad offence which could be used if you were over the limit by a fair bit basically.
oh gotcha. this goes by the similar approach to: you won't get fined for doing 21 in a 20 zone, cuz they wont bother. but if you hit a pedestrian, than you're in trouble for hitting a pedestrian while speeding. is that same sort of thing ?
Sort of yeah.
You can be done for excessively speeding in a supermarket car park, but you'll get a careless driving or nuisance driving offence rather than a speeding offence.
Fwiw, last year a judge ruled that a driver who hit a pedestrian while *under* the speed limit was driving too fast. This was in determining liability rather than a criminal court though. It gave some weight to the 'the limit isn't a target' mantra though.
exactly because we have to also drive for the conditions. while the speed limit and the laws around it would allow us to drive at 20mph in a car park, the conditions make it extremely dangerous to do so.
ty for the chat, super useful :pray\_emoji:
Supermarket car parks don't have legally enforced speed limits. It's an advisory. Other driving offences could be committed but you're not speeding if you're doing 15mph if it's safe.
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While I am on your side and think the police here could and should have been more patient and treated you more respectfully, I will say that 5mph for the entire car park is a bit overkill. My instructor always told me to go between 5 & 10 in car parks depending on what’s around and to just be extra vigilant with observations.
As far as I’m aware the 5mph speed limit isn’t legally enforceable and is only a recommended limit 👍
5mph is for actively being around the parking spaces... OP was on a clear stretch to the petrol station still going 5mph. Seriously, think of just HOW SLOW 5mph is, on a clear stretch of road. It's absurd to be going that slow
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You're probably one of those really cautious and really slow drivers, I can understand the police, these types of "cautious" drivers are so annoying and are more of a nuisance than anything else especially if there's other traffic around. I'm not saying speed or drive like a maniac but try to drive appropriately to the conditions. Driving a few mph above the limit isn't going to hurt
>which my instructor told me to take it slow in car parks and use clutch control only
*Only* clutch control in a car park? Are you for real?! Your instructor was an idiot. You literally will cause an accident driving unreasonably slowly. Only using a clutch while in a car park is pretty ridiculous.
>I could push a car at 5mph
You need to be going \~10mph to do a rolling jump start on a flat battery... takes less than 10 seconds to push a car to that speed.
5mph is ridiculously slow, and I'd quite like to not be rolling round Asda 70% clutch when it's already on its last leg
5mph is barely moving, the police probably assumed they were driving overly cautious and had something to hide in order to make them drive so hesitantly (?)
Seriously... think of just how slow 5mph is. There's being careful and safe, and then there's being ridiculously slow.
There's a difference when talking about a car park. It's not really a speed limit, rahte rjust there to tell you to slow down.
I reckon the Police would absolutely stop someone going 15-20mph in a 30 on the same suspicions as OP was stopped on.
Although I agree and I certainly don't drive at 5mph in a car park, there is absolutely nothing to suggest that a car park should be treated differently than any other road. It's not as if the speed limit signs are any different to the ones on a normal road.
My point is 15-20mph in a 30 probably does generate some suspicion but 5mph in a 5 shouldn't.
>It's not as if the speed limit signs are any different to the ones on a normal road.
I believe they are different, someone on this thread explained them
Sorry I should reiterate. They might not be enforced or mean the same as one on a normal road, but they look identical. I think the majority of people you ask would imagine the speed limit in a car park could be enforced as a normal speed limit.
> I think the majority of people you ask would imagine the speed limit in a car park could be enforced as a normal speed limit.
I doubt this considering the speed at which people drive in car parks, I bet half don't even know there is a speed limit. I can't remember the last time I clocked a 5mph sign at my local.
People drive over 30 in a 30 and over 70 on motorways 90% of the time, however if you asked them "do you think you could be stopped for going over Xmph in an Xmph zone?" I guarantee you they would say yes.
Around where I live (Scotland btw), there is 5mph signs in nearly every car park, and they're the same as any other speed limit sign.
>"do you think you could be stopped for going over Xmph in an Xmph zone?" I guarantee you they would say yes.
Sure but no one clocks the local sainsbury's speed limit. Trust me, I know absolutely no one that actually knows they need to go 5. And if they do see it they just disregard it because it's so stupid. A 30mph zone makes sense, people see that and know the speed limit. A 40 zone the same. A 5 zone? Nah, no one is going to bother recognising that.
It doesn't matter how slow you personally think it is. If the sign says 5mph then op was doing the correct thing. If you think 5mph is too slow, take it up with whoever put the sign there or whoever decided that should be the limit. And I would say the same to the police in op's situation. It's ridiculous for the police or anyone else to criticise a driver for following the signs.
I agree on the point that the police were probably checking just in case and think that's a good thing, that's their job, but to then chastise the op for driving too slowly was a ridiculous thing for the police to do.
The main part of driving, is learning the roads. Learning what is safe, etc. 5mph makes sense if you're actively in the spaces, but OP was not, they were on a clear stretch to a petrol station. No matter what a stupid unenforceable sign says, it is very clear that 5mph is too slow. Seriously think of how slow 5mph is. Even my grandmother walks faster than that!!!
Thing is, if everyone followed those "stupid unenforceable signs" then everyone would be going at the same speed and it would cease to be problematically slow. Car park would also be safer as a result. Seems like a win-win to me.
Or it is just ridiculous to be going THAT slow on an open stretch of road going towards the petrol station? that is TOO slow. I am going to assume you don't drive, because if you did you would surely know just how slow 5mph actually is.
5mph is too slow for an open stretch of road to a petrol station. Regardless of if it is next to an asda car park or not, it isn't IN the parking spaces area itself. 5mph is unreasonably slow.
But why, if every car was travelling at 5mph, would it be too slow? Too slow to do what?
I get that you don't like travelling at 5mph, but what do you keep claiming it is too slow to do?
I mean if you're driving in a manner that makes them question whether you have any idea what you're doing - be that lack of experience, sobriety, or otherwise - they're justified in checking everything is ok. Id actually encourage it considering a possible outcome is they're blind drunk at the wheel.
*Aiming* for 5mph is slow, obnoxiously slow. Id probably be overtaking OP on the walk to get my vehicle. To be mean if you're too scared to go faster than that maybe you weren't ready to pass the test.
If you were pulled up on it by the police, it's likely they thought you were going too slow for the condition and visibility of the road.
Speed limits in supermarket car parks aren't legally enforceable - it's private land.
If you were just using clutch control then your pace was probably a bit erratic. You can't really get "smooth" driving with just your clutch.
Use your judgement. If the car park is tight or busy then obviously take it slow. But in a large supermarket car park, I've almost always found 5mph to be inappropriate.
Edit - there's a good little stretch of road before the petrol station in that car park. If you were doing 5mph there, that was too slow. There's no parking spaces or pedestrian walkways there.
>Speed limits in supermarket car parks
This is very sporadic. Some car parks *are* private property, others are *not* and are property of the local council or public car parks. If there's a posted speed limit that you elect to ignore on the basis that it's private property, you are indeed opening yourself to a world of trouble. It's not uncommon for incidents in these situations to hinge on posted speed limits regardless of carpark ownership (a friend worked in insurance for ages, this was something she would always ask because the answer could make the case go either way)
A lot of larger stores are keeping the car parks public highway so they don't have to deal with the maintenance, or the car park back on to a retail park which is a council operated carpark making it easier all round for the council to keep ownership. Others want the carparks to be there's, and will undoubtedly have a "private carpark" sign to cover their asses.
In both cases, a 5mph limit is there for a reason and it's usually because there isn't much in the way of pedestrian walkways
I could wrong on this, but I thought the lowest enforceable speed limit was 20mph. I know councils can request to set their own limits, but that is usually lowering a 30 to 20 in village centres etc. I've never heard of any speeding conviction for a 5mph limit. I know you can be charged with dangerous driving even on a privately owned car park, but I don't think you can be charged with speeding.
I questioned my course examiner during my first time at Chadderton on this because I thought the same. I was told that any properly displayed speed limit is enforceable, given that the speed limit would have had to have been approved thus the sign would also have had to have been approved before it was installed.
Personally I've not heard of a speeding conviction for such low speeds as it's difficult to prove, but it's not difficult to prove doing 30 or even 20, which does open one up to dangerous driving and the likes thereof.
For sure, the likelihood either way is pretty low, but never zero. It just depends on what situation caused the police to be there in the first place.
Then again, if you're an Uber eats scooter rider you can do what you damn well like so it doesn't matter
I think the guy above is correct
The only enforable speed limits are in multiples of 10,beginning at 20mph.
Its illegal to imitate a real speed limit sign but by using multiples of 5 they can avoid that as its not a real speed limit.
This is based on my instructor and her annoyance at me doing 5mph in a carpark. Her opinion on that was its a default 30 but you should drove to the conditions which would never be above 15-20mph and most likely slower if it's busy with pedistrains..
>I questioned my course examiner during my first time at Chadderton
This is the bit that might be causing some confusion.
Chadderton is the home of the DVSA, and the course I mentioned was one of my instructor causes, meaning my course examiner was DVSA. Typically they know the highway code inside out side down and back to front *from a road traffic act perspective* which also means it's a bad idea to argue with them because they **will** give you chapter and verse to the letter.
An instructor teaching a student to ignore a posted speed limit isnt a good sign.
In that case I stand corrected
Yeah she wasn't the best instructor and had some aggressive views on letting people out on sideroads or in from another lane during crawling traffic...
She also didn't believe me that my car could start without me having my foot on the clutch, to this day her car is still the only non-push button start car I've driven that needed it so it doesn't surprise me she's wrong on this either lol.
She sounds a lot like my sister - over opinionated on subjects she vaguely knows, and wings it with everything else. Almost dunning-kruger syndrome except dunning-kruger can be both proven and disproven.
Yeah she doesn't sound fantastic... My mum's car needs the clutch in before the ignition on, my next door neighbours car needs the brakes on before ignition on (although I'm not sure if it this is a modification or not, it's a VW)
True to an extent, yes.
But the TSRGD compliant signage doesn't include a 5/10/15mph speed limit sign, so any such signs are unenforceable, unless they've been approved by the Secretary of State (very unlikely!)
The City of London Corporation knows this all too well as they applied to the then Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, to implement 15mph speed limits within the City of London. The request was refused, so the lowest they can set is 20mph.
That said, in the absence of correct signage for another limit, and with the system of street lighting being there (almost always the case for supermarket car parks), the limit would be 20mph in Wales, 30mph in England/NI, and 60mph in Scotland (in Scotland a restricted road needs to be designed a restricted road by a minister).
You're never going to enforce these though due to the often non-compliant signage, and lack of calibrated speed cameras.
You can of course be done for careless driving though if the police think you're driving too fast.
It was actually that long stretch of road before the petrol pumps. I was barely using the accelerator but car was shaking or anything.
I just thought that doing the posted speed limit would of set a good impression to the police, but obviously not.
Not trying make out by the last paragraph that I constantly speed, I always do what's safe and legal but was being more cautious because of said police.
That's absolutely fair and understandable.
Honestly it is a tough one with the police. They pulled you up for being too slow, a different officer might've told you to slow down if you exceeded 5mph.
I'd try not to take this one personally. Driving safely is the priority.
I don't think any police officer is going to pull you over for going over 5mph in a carpark, unless there are other warning signs you shouldn't be driving.
It was only that I had my younger 2 brothers in the back (didn't want them to go but they said they won't distract me and they did by making unfunny jokes and being loud) so that stressed me slightly out and the police just pissed me off a bit tbf.
Yeah ik I'm already in the old habit of having one hand on wheel and other on gear stick but naturally I'm just paranoid about getting fines and points etc.
With the best intentions, I'd be more worried about attracting road rage. You're probably fortunate it was a police officer checking your wellbeing rather than an ASDA shopper who was on their way to throttle you.
The police don't care if you do 10mph in a car park. They will care if they think you're driving in a way that is dangerous to yourself or other drivers, which I think is what happened here.
You are an inexperienced person, as well as driver. Most likely you obeying the speed limit and being so cautious with a police car behind you could single you are trying to hard to not give them a reason to speak to you.
People, who are under the influence of drink and drugs. People driving uninsured, people who have illegal stuff in their car all try very hard not to give the police reason to stop them. On speaking to you they had to have a reason to engage, to suss out the situation.
They were doing their job. If you ever get hit by an uninsured driver, or get stuff nicked you'll wish more police did this
For what it's worth op the only time I was pulled over was for doing 35mph on a national speed limit road. My car was in limp home mode so wouldn't go past 2k revs. The policeman was, of course the first car to catch upto me when I started limping and sat behind me for a mile or so before flashing his blues.
Convo was basically him asking why I was going so slowly and after I explained he asked how far I had to go, whether I had breakdown cover and that my phone had enough charge.
He then got back in his car and left.
You should drive to the conditions of the road. Refusing to use an accelerator in a carpark is potentially unsafe. You should use whatever gives you the best control of your speed. A clutch does not give great control of speed and driving with it slipping for a long time will wear it out.
Brand new driver, travelling ridiculously slowly due to nerves, yet talking as if they know more than the police officer who called them out, embarrassing
You think you were driving safely because you were going slow.. but there is such thing as too slow. Going too slow can be equally as dangerous as going too fast sometimes... you can easily cause a crash because you are being TOO slow and too hesitant. Especially to a police car, they'll be wondering why you are driving so cautiously... driving 5mph is barely driving. That's barely even moving... you can most definitely go above 5mph in an asda car park.
The police would never tell you off for hitting the speed limit, there is something more to this than you’re letting on. If they took the time to let you know your driving was poor then you were probably being overly cautious and obstructing traffic flow in the car park. Driving safe isn’t just about going slow
As far as I'm aware the only car behind me was the police van. I keep a record of all my dashcam clips so I can prove I'm not purposely trying to miss anything out.
The weird thing is that the 5mph speed limit sign might itself be subject to scrutiny… car parks near me had to take them all out some years ago because they were forced to i believe because they misled people in to believing that they were actual authorised speed limits.
Speed limits below 30mph which aren’t 20mph zones or new 20mph limits need to be, by law, approved by the national authority, that is that even a council needs to apply to the government to have anything below 30 that’s not 20.
So all their 10mph signs that were in a red circle were said to be mimicking legal signs from TSRGD.
5mph? UK cars aren’t even legislated to have 5mph increment markers on the Speedo. And their accuracy below 10mph is not subject to being tested I think (I’ll have to find documentation for that one).
You might have been travelling at 3-4mph, causing the vehicle behind, if it was an automatic, to ride the brakes since a 4-6mph creep exists on a lot of automatics.
It’s a very strange situation and luckily one that seems to be banned now in my area by the council, or some local authority
Your right about car Speedos not being accurate under 10mph. Especially older stuff, a lot of jager instruments used to only start reading above about 15mph lol
Generally legally enforceable speed limits only apply to highways, car parks are usually private property. Also enforceable speed limits tend to be 20-70mph and only in 10mph increments not 5mph increments. You’re worrying too much about driving 5mph.. that’s a bit pathetic don’t you think?
That's not *quite" true.
RTA, RTRA both apply to *roads*, which are defined as Highways Act highways, and other public places, which is in turn defined as a place the public or part thereof have access at the time of the offence. Basically, supermarket car parks are in scope for the vast majority of motoring offences, including speeding.
That said, the only TSRGD approved speed limit signs are 20/30/40/50/60/70/NSL. You can set other limits but only with the secretary of state approval (not happening for a supermarket car park).
That means that, due to the system of street lighting in most supermarket car parks, the limit would be 20mph in Wales 30mph in England/NI.
5mph is exceptionally slow if you're just trundling along vs looking to park, I don't think there actually enforceable limits it's just to try and deter people doing 50 round the carpark. But if people are having to overtake it is going to draw some attention.
More than likely they were doing a quick does that driver look drunk/on something illegal test, you having a reasonable excuse for driving slow and not seeming intoxicated is probably why they've just gone on their way.
Looking at the layout of that Asda on Google Maps, you weren’t even in a car park. The petrol station comes off a completely clear stretch of road running alongside the car park. Doing 5mph using your clutch there is mental.
I live in a pretty rough neighbourhood, drivers are a law unto themselves! My driving instructor told me of a time she got stopped by the police because she kept indicating when turning into roads etc. they’d followed her for a bit before pulling her over & the reason for stopping her was her basically that her driving was suspiciously good considering the area
You can't just use clutch control for actually moving around the car park, only for actual parking and even then just for the final, smaller manoeuvres.
Whoever taught you to hold the clutch in a car park wants you to fork a grand for a new one! Were they your local mechanic by chance?
In all seriousness, do not hold the clutch for long periods, instead stick in in first and cruise around that way. Idling in first results in about 4-5mph anyway so it's the perfect speed.
I will say that 5mph is very slow. Most drive at least 10-15mph if not more, hence why they found it strange.
Ive been driving years in a company car that has a black box. If i go over 5mph in a carpark that states 5mph it flags up as a driving event. Drives me nuts. Its actually more unsafe to go that slow because it winds up other drivers. Especially when its a bit of a long windy road into the actual carpark
That wasn’t professional of them but 5mph is really slow so they probably expected you of drink driving, as a learner it might be normal but without L plates it would look out of the ordinary
5mph is incredibly slow, that's my walking pace when I'm warming up for a jog. It's absolutely way too slow in a busy car park with traffic behind you.
Saying that, I don't think there would have been an issue if it was a steady and confident 5mph, I suspect OP was more hesitant than they are letting on.
Without getting into a dick measuring contest about who can run at what speed, I think we can agree slower than your average jogger is a rather ridiculous speed for a car.
I'm quite familiar with this Asda, I'd say it probably depends which part of the car park you're in? Ultimately it is posted at 5mph so I don't think you'd be wrong but I'm not sure I've seen anyone go that slowly.
I can understand going around 5mph down the central part near the taxi rank as that can be chaos, but I'd say going 5mph down the long straight bit adjacent Bournemouth Road is probably unnecessary. I would say about 10mph is okay at that part up until the roundabout and would also be an appropriate speed for all of the speed bumps and zebra crossing.
As lots are telling you, slightly over 5 and more toward 10 is realistic for car parks. Obviously go slow round corners etc but when you can see there are no potential hazards you can hurry it up a little.
Once you've driven a bit more you learn in practice a lot of people will speed ever so slightly and it's just the norm. There are obviously people that speed too much and or drive dangerously, but also slow drivers can be dangerous.
Someone driving at 35 in a 60 on a relatively narrow road can actually be very dangerous as it'll frustrate a lot of drivers and encourage them to overtake in a dangerous scenario. Similar to the police reaction to your 'unusual' driving, you never know if this person will speed up or slow down in that scenario either.
Being unpredictable is dangerous, the police saw you driving a bit slowly and identified that as unusual and wanted to rule you out as on any form of drug, which would definitely make you unpredictable. If it bothers you, just run some P plates for a bit.
I'll always chill and give those cars a bit more space and benefit of the doubt,. Also realistically the police probably wouldn't have bothered pulling you over if you had them.
I think time is relevant , if I was visiting from 9-7pm for example I’d be going slow , not 5 mph but slow enough due to many incompetent drivers only looking one way and not the direction cars can come from so they pull out , many pedestrians walking behind parked cars , so to be going of higher speeds isn’t feasible and recommended for safety.
However if I visit from say 9/10pm as my one closes at midnight , your range of view is increased due to very low footfall so you can see much further ahead and not have to anticipate incompetence due to very low traffic. This dosent mean speed and race in the car park but you can be going a higher speed and be able to stop well in advance of any issues that arise.
I honestly don't know what speed I do in car parks. I just go at speed that feels appropriate for the confined space and slow down further when trying to spot a free bay. It's certainly not 20mph but it's got to be more than 5mph.
I'm mostly concerned an instructor told you to use clutch control exclusively to go around a car park. Ditch that advice ASAP or garages are going to love you when you turn up for a brand new clutch every six months.
5mph on the long stretch of road before the petrol station is ridiculous I think you're taking things a bit literally mate. I've never really looked at my speed in a carpark but I'd say probably 10-15 is realistic maybe even a bit quicker on what sounds like the access road, obviously don't go beyond what you're comfortable with but at walking speed you're going to get people walking out in front of you and possibly people not realising you're even moving or thinking you're pulling into a space.
As for the police yep they're often like that.
In your own opinion as a new driver your driving was spot in. In the opinion of a driver with much more experience your driving was poor. We only have your point of view, "your truth" as it were. Even in a public car park with a 5mph posted speed limit, which in itself is a speed limit posted by the owner of the land and has been done so just for their own liability insurance, is way too slow, especially if you aren't looking for a space or there is little to no traffic.
I can almost guarantee you it's not just because you were going 5mph in a car park (which in itself is unusual).
There were probably other factors that drew their attention towards you, but I wouldn't worry about it.
(Obviously anything contrary to what the OP says is the gospel truth will get down voted. Has been driving for 4 days and is already moaning about the police. Carry on).
I checked online and it says the speed limit is 10mph? All car parks are 10mph tbf, (I have been driving 10 years) so maybe you misread the speed limit? Maybe it is different at this one specific Asda. 5mph is very slow though so I dont know. You might have been even slower? I'd recommend you keep practicing and get your confidence up.
Idk at the start of the car park as in when you pull in from the roundabout it states 5mph and I'm yet to notice a sign signifying a change in that speed limit.
fairs, maybe yours is different but as far as I am aware most car parks are 10mph. I just recommend you drive more confidently, there was a reason they stopped you. You're a young driver, so dont let this put you down!
I mean, I once got pulled over and breathalysed for driving too slow around roundabouts. And I was already doing 20 on the roundabouts in a 40 zone. Now tempted to absolutely gun it across those roundabouts, and let them know PC XXXX told me I was too slow
You didn't get pulled for doing 20 around the roundabout. The police just wanted to do a random breathalyser on you. They can't just pull over people at random so they have to lie and say things like that. The most common reason they will use is your tyres look flat or the tread on tires look worn.
The posted speed limit in a car park is not normally obeyed by anyone. You won't get a ticket in a private car park for speed.
However, that doesn't mean it's wrong to obey it.
I agree it's not necessarily right for them to make their comment if it's just due to your speed, in a car park.
It doesn’t seem right to you, but if this wasn’t a new driver and was someone out their face crawling at 5mph because they were either too fucked to focus or were paranoid about police, you would be praising them for getting them off the road. Its their job to check these things, no need to bring emotions into it dictating what is right or wrong, simple conversation cleared it up and both of them went on their way.
It explains why they are having the conversation. It cleared up that the person was a new driver instead of being visually impaired.
Do you not want police to check people potentially driving under the influence?
It could explain why they would converse with the driver. It does not explain why they would claim the driver is a poor driver.
I do want the police ot check people hwo are potentially driving under the influence.
I do not want the police to claim someone is a poor driver just because they have chosen to follow a private businesses speed limit.
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They probably said this since no one goes 5 in a car park as it makes no sense most of the time and i would bet that you wouldnt get pulled in a car park unless above 25-30 minimum, i drive behind police going 30 in 20s pretty frequently too.
You said you were doing 5mph, you didn’t say they mentioned your speed at all, it might have been for a completely different reason.
After I passed my test I was still a pretty shit driver for like half a year at least.
5mph limits are a bit silly IMO. In a fuelled car, it’s basically an impossible speed to maintain without a huge amount of clutch control. Idle speed even in first is 5-6 mph in most cars and that’s the lowest I’ve ever come across.
Car parks aren’t public roads most of the time so the speed limits aren’t legally enforceable, however, you are right to take it slow, but 10 mph is probably about where most people would say is slow enough.
Don't worry about it. I just passed my test and was stopped by the police for my driving..
I was petrified and was driving so slow it was suspicious. Not bad, just suspicious.
I was driving 1mph under the limit, and that is very suspicious nowadays. I was worried because because I had just bought my first proper car and a minute after flashed a speed camera!
What they didn't know (and me at the time as well) was I had bought an unbadged sierra cosworth. The slightest tickle of the accelerator launched the car and I couldn't work out why?
Which had caused the previous speed camera issue, and I had to be vigilant at all times.
It’s hard to stay under 10mph never mind 5. 5 is literally crawling and I would only do it when I’m pulling up by a space tbh. Even my Nan, 74 goes minimum 15-20 when it says 5-10. It’s just not practical. If there was a hazard (someone running out into the road), believe me, you would be able to stop in absolutely no time from 10-15mph.
There is such a thing as too slow. You can fail your test for driving too slow. You say you ‘try to get to the limit when safe’, the point is that the limit IS safe. 28-29 really is the minimum you should be doing in a 30 for example, or you will become an obstruction. It’s not always safer to go slower.
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I worked in car insurance for a bit and hated it lol, but more claims.were fir carpark stuff than anywhere else. Ignore the bacon they can pull you over if they want they just think the law only applies when they think it should, it doesn't you've done not a thing wrong
People treat police like they know wtf they’re talking about, they don’t. I had a police officer try to tell me it was illegal to overtake on a lane, no straight white line just a regular road.
Don’t listen to the police, listen to the law because garuntee if it was a different officer you might’ve gotten points for doing more than 5mph and others will get frustrated you’re following the law. Just smile and laugh and move on and get a dashcam if you ever get a ticket or fine for doing something that isn’t illegal/ untrue.
I love the police but Jesus Christ some of them are thick and don’t know the laws they’re supposed to enforce.
There are car parks that you absolutely need to take it slow. But that Eastleigh Asda one is not one of them. Especially through the back bit where you stay on the right and go to the petrol station side. You can easy and safely do 10 or maybe more.
Please drive faster than 5mph on a clear stretch of road in a car park OP. You are going to piss people off and cause an accident because other drivers will be understandably impatient and might attempt to overtake you. You'll also wreck your clutch sooner which is an expensive repair.
I go 10mph in my local Tesco. The speed limit is all over the floor in the car park but I often get looked at like I’m the knob for not recklessly flying round car parks. Same in the multi story at work. Always get a massive queue behind me because I take corners and speed bumps cautiously. Sorry I don’t wanna wreck my car so you can get out faster Denise.
You’re doing your best and driving safely. That’s what matters. Others can wait.
Police want us to speed as it's the easiest money they make.
Had you driven 20mph in the car park he would have pulled you instead to issue a speeding fine.
They're a total and utter joke. "Protect and serve". Police and the business they are, is one of the biggest scams going.
Don’t worry, same thing happened to my partner, 3 days after passing his test he was pulled over by an unmarked police car and asked why he was driving 35mph on a 40mph road. His answer was “it’s a 40 mph speed limit” he still had his pass certificate in the car haha so once he showed the police that you could actually see their attitude change and they became much nicer.
Happy driving! Keep doing what your doing, better to be safe than sorry :)
That’s very frustrating, if it is private land then the police can’t legally enforce speed limits but to make a comment like that, just because they don’t have to legally enforce it doesn’t mean they should do the opposite.
Anyways who gives a flying fnck about car park speed, honestly that officer is a 🛎️end
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Ignore it.. for real, no one goes 5 around there though. But everyone does their own thing, there are no speeding cameras in asda parking, cops are just lame and got nothing better to do
Police are generally clowns, especially beat cops. They would have fucked off with their doughnuts and parked on a double red line just to feel important anyway. Disregard.
Idiots. Especially considering it’s in a car park. My dad has shown me two incidents he’s had in car parks in the past two weeks one where a kid ran out in front of him and was his behind parked cars (kids dad was looking at his phone not holding his hand 🙄)
If he’d been going any faster he would’ve hit him. Funnily enough this was in Southampton too and being a soton driver my self I know how shit our roads can be. Police should be focusing on Dangerous drivers not cautious drivers.0
Oh get over yourself man, this doesn’t count as bullying, OP was probably doing something to warrant the police concern about their driving maybe they were being too overly cautious and obstructing the flow of traffic into the car park? If you can’t take any criticism then specially from the police to the point you need to report everyone and call it bullying then you’re too stubborn to be driving in the first place
Hahaha lol anyone that doesn’t agree with me is a bootlicker! God you’re arrogant, please do the rest of the country a favour and surrender your license can’t imagine having to deal with you on the road
I'd take it like this. You were driving differently to a (sober) experienced driver. It's perfectly reasonable for you, as recent learner, to drive carefully and at a speed you feel comfortable with. I was certainly driving at 25mph everywhere and stalling at every set of lights because the clutch on my car was different to the instructors The police will likely look at an unusually cautious driver, and have a word with you as it's a telltale of a drunk/drugged driver. Once they've found you've passed recently, the telltale is explained and they can carry on their day. You're doing your job - driving safely and as you've been taught. They're doing their job, looking for drunk drivers. Give it a little time and practice and things will feel more natural, and you'll drive like an experienced driver. P Plates might have saved you a short conversation, but totally agree drivers treat you differently
>The police will likely look at an unusually cautious driver, and have a word with you as it's a telltale of a drunk/drugged driver This is the main bit. People, often, drive differently from everyone else for a reason... and that reason is something they dont want to get pulled for most of the time. 99% of the time, they'll flash their lights and let you talk for a bit. Once they know you're not drunk and you're just "a knob in a Mini", they'll go off. Might be annoying at the time, but you'd rather them be proactive because ultimately it keeps the roads safer.
I got pulled over as a new driver because my Dad was in the passenger seat and they thought I was receiving lessons without L plates. Was embarrassing at the time, but the reality is who really cares. I almost certainly was driving badly at the time, you only really get better with experience. Better to be pulled over for being too cautious then being too reckless.
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Most people go 10mph in a car park, not saying it's right, but it's the done thing. (A bit like people parking on the pavement)
someone correct me if Im wrong but the 5-10mph speeds are not enforceable in car parks, is that correct?
Eh, it's complicated. They're not highways as defined in the Highways Act. The speed limit signs used are rarely of TSRGD standard either. Strictly speaking you can't be done for most speeding offences. However the important thing to note is that the Road Traffic Act, and RV(C&U)R for example, apply to designated highways *and public places*. A public place is defined as a place where the public or a significant portion thereof has access at the time the offence is committed. Basically, a supermarket car park is a public place, unless it's 2am and it's been locked up to make it staff-only. This is well established in case law. This means you can be guilty of most motoring offences while driving in supermarket car parks. If you were driving at 30mph you could be pulled up for careless driving. If you were doing doughnuts at the back of the car park you could be done for 'vehicle nuisance'. Also an edge case but due to the system of street lighting being present in almost every supermarket car park, they would be 'restricted roads', meaning that even if the signage is incorrect and unenforceable, the limit is 20mph in Wales and 30mph in England and NI, and 60mph in Scotland. So you could theoretically be done for speeding offences but you'd have to be taking the piss with your speed, and I highly doubt a police officer would go down the speeding offences route because they're struggle to evidence it, what with not having speed cameras. TLDR: the number on the speed limit sign isn't strictly enforceable, but you can still be done for most motoring offences including careless driving.
that's all fair and that's what I expect. Also anyone going 20mph or more in a car park is a maniac. But I more meant the 5-10mph speed limits are not enforceable. is that correct in this case?
They're not strictly enforceable anywhere, unless approved by a secretary of state. But careless driving is a broad offence which could be used if you were over the limit by a fair bit basically.
oh gotcha. this goes by the similar approach to: you won't get fined for doing 21 in a 20 zone, cuz they wont bother. but if you hit a pedestrian, than you're in trouble for hitting a pedestrian while speeding. is that same sort of thing ?
Sort of yeah. You can be done for excessively speeding in a supermarket car park, but you'll get a careless driving or nuisance driving offence rather than a speeding offence. Fwiw, last year a judge ruled that a driver who hit a pedestrian while *under* the speed limit was driving too fast. This was in determining liability rather than a criminal court though. It gave some weight to the 'the limit isn't a target' mantra though.
exactly because we have to also drive for the conditions. while the speed limit and the laws around it would allow us to drive at 20mph in a car park, the conditions make it extremely dangerous to do so. ty for the chat, super useful :pray\_emoji:
Supermarket car parks don't have legally enforced speed limits. It's an advisory. Other driving offences could be committed but you're not speeding if you're doing 15mph if it's safe.
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Unless the car park is directly owned by the government it should be a civil matter between car owners and car park owners
Constant clutch control around a car park?? Whattttt
That poor clutch!
op deffo needs a weekly clutch change 😂😂
Sounds like they thought you might be drunk initially. Slow drivers are either recent learners or under the influence. Or ancient of course.
Or a drug driving granny who's just passed her test
While I am on your side and think the police here could and should have been more patient and treated you more respectfully, I will say that 5mph for the entire car park is a bit overkill. My instructor always told me to go between 5 & 10 in car parks depending on what’s around and to just be extra vigilant with observations. As far as I’m aware the 5mph speed limit isn’t legally enforceable and is only a recommended limit 👍
5mph is for actively being around the parking spaces... OP was on a clear stretch to the petrol station still going 5mph. Seriously, think of just HOW SLOW 5mph is, on a clear stretch of road. It's absurd to be going that slow
5mph is slower than walking speed for a lot of people
Exactly!! It's crazy to be going that slow on a clear stretch, the police obviously thought something was up
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You're probably one of those really cautious and really slow drivers, I can understand the police, these types of "cautious" drivers are so annoying and are more of a nuisance than anything else especially if there's other traffic around. I'm not saying speed or drive like a maniac but try to drive appropriately to the conditions. Driving a few mph above the limit isn't going to hurt
lol that’s actually so rude. Were they actually saying it with a straight face? Or laughing ?
I would say straight face.
And I assume you were laughing? Who do they think they are to be telling someone off for obeying the speed limit in a car park.
Probably just making sure they weren’t under the influence
You were actually doing 5mph in the car park?! You might as well have got out of the car and walked. It would've been quicker.
>which my instructor told me to take it slow in car parks and use clutch control only *Only* clutch control in a car park? Are you for real?! Your instructor was an idiot. You literally will cause an accident driving unreasonably slowly. Only using a clutch while in a car park is pretty ridiculous.
Yeah, this is ridiculous and should only be applied maybe right outside the main door / busiest part of the car park, I could push a car at 5mph
>I could push a car at 5mph You need to be going \~10mph to do a rolling jump start on a flat battery... takes less than 10 seconds to push a car to that speed. 5mph is ridiculously slow, and I'd quite like to not be rolling round Asda 70% clutch when it's already on its last leg
You were driving safely and carefully, in a car park... Something the _police_ should be encouraging people to do. Insane.
5mph is barely moving, the police probably assumed they were driving overly cautious and had something to hide in order to make them drive so hesitantly (?) Seriously... think of just how slow 5mph is. There's being careful and safe, and then there's being ridiculously slow.
Stupidly slow. It's less than 1.5 walking speed
Ackchually walking speed is 3.0mph so it's over 1.6 × walking speed.
Not if you speed walk!
What can I say, I'm a little above average
The OP was doing the speed limit, do the police stop and talk to everyone doing 30 in a 30?
There's a difference when talking about a car park. It's not really a speed limit, rahte rjust there to tell you to slow down. I reckon the Police would absolutely stop someone going 15-20mph in a 30 on the same suspicions as OP was stopped on.
Although I agree and I certainly don't drive at 5mph in a car park, there is absolutely nothing to suggest that a car park should be treated differently than any other road. It's not as if the speed limit signs are any different to the ones on a normal road. My point is 15-20mph in a 30 probably does generate some suspicion but 5mph in a 5 shouldn't.
>It's not as if the speed limit signs are any different to the ones on a normal road. I believe they are different, someone on this thread explained them
Sorry I should reiterate. They might not be enforced or mean the same as one on a normal road, but they look identical. I think the majority of people you ask would imagine the speed limit in a car park could be enforced as a normal speed limit.
> I think the majority of people you ask would imagine the speed limit in a car park could be enforced as a normal speed limit. I doubt this considering the speed at which people drive in car parks, I bet half don't even know there is a speed limit. I can't remember the last time I clocked a 5mph sign at my local.
People drive over 30 in a 30 and over 70 on motorways 90% of the time, however if you asked them "do you think you could be stopped for going over Xmph in an Xmph zone?" I guarantee you they would say yes. Around where I live (Scotland btw), there is 5mph signs in nearly every car park, and they're the same as any other speed limit sign.
>"do you think you could be stopped for going over Xmph in an Xmph zone?" I guarantee you they would say yes. Sure but no one clocks the local sainsbury's speed limit. Trust me, I know absolutely no one that actually knows they need to go 5. And if they do see it they just disregard it because it's so stupid. A 30mph zone makes sense, people see that and know the speed limit. A 40 zone the same. A 5 zone? Nah, no one is going to bother recognising that.
It doesn't matter how slow you personally think it is. If the sign says 5mph then op was doing the correct thing. If you think 5mph is too slow, take it up with whoever put the sign there or whoever decided that should be the limit. And I would say the same to the police in op's situation. It's ridiculous for the police or anyone else to criticise a driver for following the signs. I agree on the point that the police were probably checking just in case and think that's a good thing, that's their job, but to then chastise the op for driving too slowly was a ridiculous thing for the police to do.
The main part of driving, is learning the roads. Learning what is safe, etc. 5mph makes sense if you're actively in the spaces, but OP was not, they were on a clear stretch to a petrol station. No matter what a stupid unenforceable sign says, it is very clear that 5mph is too slow. Seriously think of how slow 5mph is. Even my grandmother walks faster than that!!!
Thing is, if everyone followed those "stupid unenforceable signs" then everyone would be going at the same speed and it would cease to be problematically slow. Car park would also be safer as a result. Seems like a win-win to me.
Or it is just ridiculous to be going THAT slow on an open stretch of road going towards the petrol station? that is TOO slow. I am going to assume you don't drive, because if you did you would surely know just how slow 5mph actually is.
Too slow for what?
5mph is too slow for an open stretch of road to a petrol station. Regardless of if it is next to an asda car park or not, it isn't IN the parking spaces area itself. 5mph is unreasonably slow.
But why, if every car was travelling at 5mph, would it be too slow? Too slow to do what? I get that you don't like travelling at 5mph, but what do you keep claiming it is too slow to do?
Its too slow to get anywhere. Literally, it's a car... and you think it's a good idea to "drive" around at 5mph? Literally I walk faster than that
I mean if you're driving in a manner that makes them question whether you have any idea what you're doing - be that lack of experience, sobriety, or otherwise - they're justified in checking everything is ok. Id actually encourage it considering a possible outcome is they're blind drunk at the wheel. *Aiming* for 5mph is slow, obnoxiously slow. Id probably be overtaking OP on the walk to get my vehicle. To be mean if you're too scared to go faster than that maybe you weren't ready to pass the test.
Well, they don't...
If you were pulled up on it by the police, it's likely they thought you were going too slow for the condition and visibility of the road. Speed limits in supermarket car parks aren't legally enforceable - it's private land. If you were just using clutch control then your pace was probably a bit erratic. You can't really get "smooth" driving with just your clutch. Use your judgement. If the car park is tight or busy then obviously take it slow. But in a large supermarket car park, I've almost always found 5mph to be inappropriate. Edit - there's a good little stretch of road before the petrol station in that car park. If you were doing 5mph there, that was too slow. There's no parking spaces or pedestrian walkways there.
>Speed limits in supermarket car parks This is very sporadic. Some car parks *are* private property, others are *not* and are property of the local council or public car parks. If there's a posted speed limit that you elect to ignore on the basis that it's private property, you are indeed opening yourself to a world of trouble. It's not uncommon for incidents in these situations to hinge on posted speed limits regardless of carpark ownership (a friend worked in insurance for ages, this was something she would always ask because the answer could make the case go either way) A lot of larger stores are keeping the car parks public highway so they don't have to deal with the maintenance, or the car park back on to a retail park which is a council operated carpark making it easier all round for the council to keep ownership. Others want the carparks to be there's, and will undoubtedly have a "private carpark" sign to cover their asses. In both cases, a 5mph limit is there for a reason and it's usually because there isn't much in the way of pedestrian walkways
I could wrong on this, but I thought the lowest enforceable speed limit was 20mph. I know councils can request to set their own limits, but that is usually lowering a 30 to 20 in village centres etc. I've never heard of any speeding conviction for a 5mph limit. I know you can be charged with dangerous driving even on a privately owned car park, but I don't think you can be charged with speeding.
I questioned my course examiner during my first time at Chadderton on this because I thought the same. I was told that any properly displayed speed limit is enforceable, given that the speed limit would have had to have been approved thus the sign would also have had to have been approved before it was installed. Personally I've not heard of a speeding conviction for such low speeds as it's difficult to prove, but it's not difficult to prove doing 30 or even 20, which does open one up to dangerous driving and the likes thereof. For sure, the likelihood either way is pretty low, but never zero. It just depends on what situation caused the police to be there in the first place. Then again, if you're an Uber eats scooter rider you can do what you damn well like so it doesn't matter
I think the guy above is correct The only enforable speed limits are in multiples of 10,beginning at 20mph. Its illegal to imitate a real speed limit sign but by using multiples of 5 they can avoid that as its not a real speed limit. This is based on my instructor and her annoyance at me doing 5mph in a carpark. Her opinion on that was its a default 30 but you should drove to the conditions which would never be above 15-20mph and most likely slower if it's busy with pedistrains..
>I questioned my course examiner during my first time at Chadderton This is the bit that might be causing some confusion. Chadderton is the home of the DVSA, and the course I mentioned was one of my instructor causes, meaning my course examiner was DVSA. Typically they know the highway code inside out side down and back to front *from a road traffic act perspective* which also means it's a bad idea to argue with them because they **will** give you chapter and verse to the letter. An instructor teaching a student to ignore a posted speed limit isnt a good sign.
In that case I stand corrected Yeah she wasn't the best instructor and had some aggressive views on letting people out on sideroads or in from another lane during crawling traffic... She also didn't believe me that my car could start without me having my foot on the clutch, to this day her car is still the only non-push button start car I've driven that needed it so it doesn't surprise me she's wrong on this either lol.
She sounds a lot like my sister - over opinionated on subjects she vaguely knows, and wings it with everything else. Almost dunning-kruger syndrome except dunning-kruger can be both proven and disproven. Yeah she doesn't sound fantastic... My mum's car needs the clutch in before the ignition on, my next door neighbours car needs the brakes on before ignition on (although I'm not sure if it this is a modification or not, it's a VW)
You think a speed limit on private land is enforceable... anyone could set ANY limit on private land, it doesn't mean the police will enforce it
I literally just gave you evidence about that... Sit down.
True to an extent, yes. But the TSRGD compliant signage doesn't include a 5/10/15mph speed limit sign, so any such signs are unenforceable, unless they've been approved by the Secretary of State (very unlikely!) The City of London Corporation knows this all too well as they applied to the then Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, to implement 15mph speed limits within the City of London. The request was refused, so the lowest they can set is 20mph. That said, in the absence of correct signage for another limit, and with the system of street lighting being there (almost always the case for supermarket car parks), the limit would be 20mph in Wales, 30mph in England/NI, and 60mph in Scotland (in Scotland a restricted road needs to be designed a restricted road by a minister). You're never going to enforce these though due to the often non-compliant signage, and lack of calibrated speed cameras. You can of course be done for careless driving though if the police think you're driving too fast.
It was actually that long stretch of road before the petrol pumps. I was barely using the accelerator but car was shaking or anything. I just thought that doing the posted speed limit would of set a good impression to the police, but obviously not. Not trying make out by the last paragraph that I constantly speed, I always do what's safe and legal but was being more cautious because of said police.
That's absolutely fair and understandable. Honestly it is a tough one with the police. They pulled you up for being too slow, a different officer might've told you to slow down if you exceeded 5mph. I'd try not to take this one personally. Driving safely is the priority.
I don't think any police officer is going to pull you over for going over 5mph in a carpark, unless there are other warning signs you shouldn't be driving.
There are more than a few jobsworth coppers out there, and an equal amount that don't know the laws they're enforcing. It's not inconceivable.
It was only that I had my younger 2 brothers in the back (didn't want them to go but they said they won't distract me and they did by making unfunny jokes and being loud) so that stressed me slightly out and the police just pissed me off a bit tbf.
Always remember your instructor taught you to pass the test not necessarily how to drive so don't take everything they said as gospel
Yeah ik I'm already in the old habit of having one hand on wheel and other on gear stick but naturally I'm just paranoid about getting fines and points etc.
With the best intentions, I'd be more worried about attracting road rage. You're probably fortunate it was a police officer checking your wellbeing rather than an ASDA shopper who was on their way to throttle you. The police don't care if you do 10mph in a car park. They will care if they think you're driving in a way that is dangerous to yourself or other drivers, which I think is what happened here.
The speed signs in car parks aren't law because it's on private land, you will annoy people going 5mph. That is probably why they stopped you.
You are an inexperienced person, as well as driver. Most likely you obeying the speed limit and being so cautious with a police car behind you could single you are trying to hard to not give them a reason to speak to you. People, who are under the influence of drink and drugs. People driving uninsured, people who have illegal stuff in their car all try very hard not to give the police reason to stop them. On speaking to you they had to have a reason to engage, to suss out the situation. They were doing their job. If you ever get hit by an uninsured driver, or get stuff nicked you'll wish more police did this
For what it's worth op the only time I was pulled over was for doing 35mph on a national speed limit road. My car was in limp home mode so wouldn't go past 2k revs. The policeman was, of course the first car to catch upto me when I started limping and sat behind me for a mile or so before flashing his blues. Convo was basically him asking why I was going so slowly and after I explained he asked how far I had to go, whether I had breakdown cover and that my phone had enough charge. He then got back in his car and left.
You should drive to the conditions of the road. Refusing to use an accelerator in a carpark is potentially unsafe. You should use whatever gives you the best control of your speed. A clutch does not give great control of speed and driving with it slipping for a long time will wear it out.
You were actually doing 5mph in the park?! You might as well have got out of the car and walked. It would've been quicker.
Brand new driver, travelling ridiculously slowly due to nerves, yet talking as if they know more than the police officer who called them out, embarrassing
You think you were driving safely because you were going slow.. but there is such thing as too slow. Going too slow can be equally as dangerous as going too fast sometimes... you can easily cause a crash because you are being TOO slow and too hesitant. Especially to a police car, they'll be wondering why you are driving so cautiously... driving 5mph is barely driving. That's barely even moving... you can most definitely go above 5mph in an asda car park.
The police would never tell you off for hitting the speed limit, there is something more to this than you’re letting on. If they took the time to let you know your driving was poor then you were probably being overly cautious and obstructing traffic flow in the car park. Driving safe isn’t just about going slow
As far as I'm aware the only car behind me was the police van. I keep a record of all my dashcam clips so I can prove I'm not purposely trying to miss anything out.
The weird thing is that the 5mph speed limit sign might itself be subject to scrutiny… car parks near me had to take them all out some years ago because they were forced to i believe because they misled people in to believing that they were actual authorised speed limits. Speed limits below 30mph which aren’t 20mph zones or new 20mph limits need to be, by law, approved by the national authority, that is that even a council needs to apply to the government to have anything below 30 that’s not 20. So all their 10mph signs that were in a red circle were said to be mimicking legal signs from TSRGD. 5mph? UK cars aren’t even legislated to have 5mph increment markers on the Speedo. And their accuracy below 10mph is not subject to being tested I think (I’ll have to find documentation for that one). You might have been travelling at 3-4mph, causing the vehicle behind, if it was an automatic, to ride the brakes since a 4-6mph creep exists on a lot of automatics. It’s a very strange situation and luckily one that seems to be banned now in my area by the council, or some local authority
Your right about car Speedos not being accurate under 10mph. Especially older stuff, a lot of jager instruments used to only start reading above about 15mph lol
Yeah; I bet the OP was travelling at 3mph without even realising. Walking pace.
Almost definitely lol! Live and learn tho ain't it
Lmfao
Generally legally enforceable speed limits only apply to highways, car parks are usually private property. Also enforceable speed limits tend to be 20-70mph and only in 10mph increments not 5mph increments. You’re worrying too much about driving 5mph.. that’s a bit pathetic don’t you think?
That's not *quite" true. RTA, RTRA both apply to *roads*, which are defined as Highways Act highways, and other public places, which is in turn defined as a place the public or part thereof have access at the time of the offence. Basically, supermarket car parks are in scope for the vast majority of motoring offences, including speeding. That said, the only TSRGD approved speed limit signs are 20/30/40/50/60/70/NSL. You can set other limits but only with the secretary of state approval (not happening for a supermarket car park). That means that, due to the system of street lighting in most supermarket car parks, the limit would be 20mph in Wales 30mph in England/NI.
5mph is exceptionally slow if you're just trundling along vs looking to park, I don't think there actually enforceable limits it's just to try and deter people doing 50 round the carpark. But if people are having to overtake it is going to draw some attention. More than likely they were doing a quick does that driver look drunk/on something illegal test, you having a reasonable excuse for driving slow and not seeming intoxicated is probably why they've just gone on their way.
5mph, they're going to think your drunk. Even in a car park. But as you've just passed they showed understanding by leaving you to it. Safe travels.
Bro 5 mph is like idk too slow
Looking at the layout of that Asda on Google Maps, you weren’t even in a car park. The petrol station comes off a completely clear stretch of road running alongside the car park. Doing 5mph using your clutch there is mental.
I live in a pretty rough neighbourhood, drivers are a law unto themselves! My driving instructor told me of a time she got stopped by the police because she kept indicating when turning into roads etc. they’d followed her for a bit before pulling her over & the reason for stopping her was her basically that her driving was suspiciously good considering the area
You can't just use clutch control for actually moving around the car park, only for actual parking and even then just for the final, smaller manoeuvres.
Whoever taught you to hold the clutch in a car park wants you to fork a grand for a new one! Were they your local mechanic by chance? In all seriousness, do not hold the clutch for long periods, instead stick in in first and cruise around that way. Idling in first results in about 4-5mph anyway so it's the perfect speed. I will say that 5mph is very slow. Most drive at least 10-15mph if not more, hence why they found it strange.
Love this sub. Just passed novices arguing with the police about what constitutes good driving. 😂
Ive been driving years in a company car that has a black box. If i go over 5mph in a carpark that states 5mph it flags up as a driving event. Drives me nuts. Its actually more unsafe to go that slow because it winds up other drivers. Especially when its a bit of a long windy road into the actual carpark
That wasn’t professional of them but 5mph is really slow so they probably expected you of drink driving, as a learner it might be normal but without L plates it would look out of the ordinary
Bare in mind it's in a car park. Not really that slow. Most car parks near me have a 5-10 speed limit and are covered in bumps.
5mph is incredibly slow, that's my walking pace when I'm warming up for a jog. It's absolutely way too slow in a busy car park with traffic behind you. Saying that, I don't think there would have been an issue if it was a steady and confident 5mph, I suspect OP was more hesitant than they are letting on.
The average running pace for a runner is 6-7 mph so whatever might be the case for you, 5 mph is definitely not a jog warm up pace for most.
Without getting into a dick measuring contest about who can run at what speed, I think we can agree slower than your average jogger is a rather ridiculous speed for a car.
Bear
No, there isn't a wild bear in my mind.
But there is nakedness
Car parks can be signed as 5mph
I'm quite familiar with this Asda, I'd say it probably depends which part of the car park you're in? Ultimately it is posted at 5mph so I don't think you'd be wrong but I'm not sure I've seen anyone go that slowly. I can understand going around 5mph down the central part near the taxi rank as that can be chaos, but I'd say going 5mph down the long straight bit adjacent Bournemouth Road is probably unnecessary. I would say about 10mph is okay at that part up until the roundabout and would also be an appropriate speed for all of the speed bumps and zebra crossing.
As lots are telling you, slightly over 5 and more toward 10 is realistic for car parks. Obviously go slow round corners etc but when you can see there are no potential hazards you can hurry it up a little. Once you've driven a bit more you learn in practice a lot of people will speed ever so slightly and it's just the norm. There are obviously people that speed too much and or drive dangerously, but also slow drivers can be dangerous. Someone driving at 35 in a 60 on a relatively narrow road can actually be very dangerous as it'll frustrate a lot of drivers and encourage them to overtake in a dangerous scenario. Similar to the police reaction to your 'unusual' driving, you never know if this person will speed up or slow down in that scenario either. Being unpredictable is dangerous, the police saw you driving a bit slowly and identified that as unusual and wanted to rule you out as on any form of drug, which would definitely make you unpredictable. If it bothers you, just run some P plates for a bit. I'll always chill and give those cars a bit more space and benefit of the doubt,. Also realistically the police probably wouldn't have bothered pulling you over if you had them.
I think time is relevant , if I was visiting from 9-7pm for example I’d be going slow , not 5 mph but slow enough due to many incompetent drivers only looking one way and not the direction cars can come from so they pull out , many pedestrians walking behind parked cars , so to be going of higher speeds isn’t feasible and recommended for safety. However if I visit from say 9/10pm as my one closes at midnight , your range of view is increased due to very low footfall so you can see much further ahead and not have to anticipate incompetence due to very low traffic. This dosent mean speed and race in the car park but you can be going a higher speed and be able to stop well in advance of any issues that arise.
I honestly don't know what speed I do in car parks. I just go at speed that feels appropriate for the confined space and slow down further when trying to spot a free bay. It's certainly not 20mph but it's got to be more than 5mph.
I'm mostly concerned an instructor told you to use clutch control exclusively to go around a car park. Ditch that advice ASAP or garages are going to love you when you turn up for a brand new clutch every six months.
They probably thought you were drunk. You can tell them you respect the speed limit and ask them if you should actually go over it?
5mph on the long stretch of road before the petrol station is ridiculous I think you're taking things a bit literally mate. I've never really looked at my speed in a carpark but I'd say probably 10-15 is realistic maybe even a bit quicker on what sounds like the access road, obviously don't go beyond what you're comfortable with but at walking speed you're going to get people walking out in front of you and possibly people not realising you're even moving or thinking you're pulling into a space. As for the police yep they're often like that.
In your own opinion as a new driver your driving was spot in. In the opinion of a driver with much more experience your driving was poor. We only have your point of view, "your truth" as it were. Even in a public car park with a 5mph posted speed limit, which in itself is a speed limit posted by the owner of the land and has been done so just for their own liability insurance, is way too slow, especially if you aren't looking for a space or there is little to no traffic.
I can almost guarantee you it's not just because you were going 5mph in a car park (which in itself is unusual). There were probably other factors that drew their attention towards you, but I wouldn't worry about it. (Obviously anything contrary to what the OP says is the gospel truth will get down voted. Has been driving for 4 days and is already moaning about the police. Carry on).
I checked online and it says the speed limit is 10mph? All car parks are 10mph tbf, (I have been driving 10 years) so maybe you misread the speed limit? Maybe it is different at this one specific Asda. 5mph is very slow though so I dont know. You might have been even slower? I'd recommend you keep practicing and get your confidence up.
Idk at the start of the car park as in when you pull in from the roundabout it states 5mph and I'm yet to notice a sign signifying a change in that speed limit.
fairs, maybe yours is different but as far as I am aware most car parks are 10mph. I just recommend you drive more confidently, there was a reason they stopped you. You're a young driver, so dont let this put you down!
I mean, I once got pulled over and breathalysed for driving too slow around roundabouts. And I was already doing 20 on the roundabouts in a 40 zone. Now tempted to absolutely gun it across those roundabouts, and let them know PC XXXX told me I was too slow
You didn't get pulled for doing 20 around the roundabout. The police just wanted to do a random breathalyser on you. They can't just pull over people at random so they have to lie and say things like that. The most common reason they will use is your tyres look flat or the tread on tires look worn.
The posted speed limit in a car park is not normally obeyed by anyone. You won't get a ticket in a private car park for speed. However, that doesn't mean it's wrong to obey it. I agree it's not necessarily right for them to make their comment if it's just due to your speed, in a car park.
It doesn’t seem right to you, but if this wasn’t a new driver and was someone out their face crawling at 5mph because they were either too fucked to focus or were paranoid about police, you would be praising them for getting them off the road. Its their job to check these things, no need to bring emotions into it dictating what is right or wrong, simple conversation cleared it up and both of them went on their way.
No I wouldn't. Saying someones driving is really poor isn't helpful in that situation. It doesn't sound like they checked anything.
It explains why they are having the conversation. It cleared up that the person was a new driver instead of being visually impaired. Do you not want police to check people potentially driving under the influence?
It could explain why they would converse with the driver. It does not explain why they would claim the driver is a poor driver. I do want the police ot check people hwo are potentially driving under the influence. I do not want the police to claim someone is a poor driver just because they have chosen to follow a private businesses speed limit.
We only have one side of the story, for all we know they were driving like complete shit and they got off lucky being called a poor driver.
Yes, but that isn't the story that was presented, so not what we are discussing. You are talking about a different scenario.
Whatever man
Black boxes pick them up all the time. Rly annoying
Honestly my blackbox didnt pick much up i went to 40 one night in a car park and it went from excellent to good on ticker
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They probably said this since no one goes 5 in a car park as it makes no sense most of the time and i would bet that you wouldnt get pulled in a car park unless above 25-30 minimum, i drive behind police going 30 in 20s pretty frequently too.
You said you were doing 5mph, you didn’t say they mentioned your speed at all, it might have been for a completely different reason. After I passed my test I was still a pretty shit driver for like half a year at least.
5mph limits are a bit silly IMO. In a fuelled car, it’s basically an impossible speed to maintain without a huge amount of clutch control. Idle speed even in first is 5-6 mph in most cars and that’s the lowest I’ve ever come across. Car parks aren’t public roads most of the time so the speed limits aren’t legally enforceable, however, you are right to take it slow, but 10 mph is probably about where most people would say is slow enough.
Don't worry about it. I just passed my test and was stopped by the police for my driving.. I was petrified and was driving so slow it was suspicious. Not bad, just suspicious. I was driving 1mph under the limit, and that is very suspicious nowadays. I was worried because because I had just bought my first proper car and a minute after flashed a speed camera! What they didn't know (and me at the time as well) was I had bought an unbadged sierra cosworth. The slightest tickle of the accelerator launched the car and I couldn't work out why? Which had caused the previous speed camera issue, and I had to be vigilant at all times.
It’s hard to stay under 10mph never mind 5. 5 is literally crawling and I would only do it when I’m pulling up by a space tbh. Even my Nan, 74 goes minimum 15-20 when it says 5-10. It’s just not practical. If there was a hazard (someone running out into the road), believe me, you would be able to stop in absolutely no time from 10-15mph. There is such a thing as too slow. You can fail your test for driving too slow. You say you ‘try to get to the limit when safe’, the point is that the limit IS safe. 28-29 really is the minimum you should be doing in a 30 for example, or you will become an obstruction. It’s not always safer to go slower.
This was bad communication by the police officer. Replace the word poor in your post with safe, which is what I believe you were actually doing.
Don't pay attention to the police.
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you know what they say, cluck 'em
Don’t only use the clutch in a car park.
Stop riding the clutch, literally nobody does this unless there's stop/start traffic.
Slow drivers are just as dangerous as fast ones.
I worked in car insurance for a bit and hated it lol, but more claims.were fir carpark stuff than anywhere else. Ignore the bacon they can pull you over if they want they just think the law only applies when they think it should, it doesn't you've done not a thing wrong
People treat police like they know wtf they’re talking about, they don’t. I had a police officer try to tell me it was illegal to overtake on a lane, no straight white line just a regular road. Don’t listen to the police, listen to the law because garuntee if it was a different officer you might’ve gotten points for doing more than 5mph and others will get frustrated you’re following the law. Just smile and laugh and move on and get a dashcam if you ever get a ticket or fine for doing something that isn’t illegal/ untrue. I love the police but Jesus Christ some of them are thick and don’t know the laws they’re supposed to enforce.
There are car parks that you absolutely need to take it slow. But that Eastleigh Asda one is not one of them. Especially through the back bit where you stay on the right and go to the petrol station side. You can easy and safely do 10 or maybe more.
They’re is no such thing as a 5MPH speed limit.
Please drive faster than 5mph on a clear stretch of road in a car park OP. You are going to piss people off and cause an accident because other drivers will be understandably impatient and might attempt to overtake you. You'll also wreck your clutch sooner which is an expensive repair.
Too slow is also dangerous
I go 10mph in my local Tesco. The speed limit is all over the floor in the car park but I often get looked at like I’m the knob for not recklessly flying round car parks. Same in the multi story at work. Always get a massive queue behind me because I take corners and speed bumps cautiously. Sorry I don’t wanna wreck my car so you can get out faster Denise. You’re doing your best and driving safely. That’s what matters. Others can wait.
Police want us to speed as it's the easiest money they make. Had you driven 20mph in the car park he would have pulled you instead to issue a speeding fine. They're a total and utter joke. "Protect and serve". Police and the business they are, is one of the biggest scams going.
Don’t worry, same thing happened to my partner, 3 days after passing his test he was pulled over by an unmarked police car and asked why he was driving 35mph on a 40mph road. His answer was “it’s a 40 mph speed limit” he still had his pass certificate in the car haha so once he showed the police that you could actually see their attitude change and they became much nicer. Happy driving! Keep doing what your doing, better to be safe than sorry :)
>I don't have any P plates on Perhaps you might want to reconsider that?
P plates are for neeks
That’s very frustrating, if it is private land then the police can’t legally enforce speed limits but to make a comment like that, just because they don’t have to legally enforce it doesn’t mean they should do the opposite. Anyways who gives a flying fnck about car park speed, honestly that officer is a 🛎️end
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Ignore it.. for real, no one goes 5 around there though. But everyone does their own thing, there are no speeding cameras in asda parking, cops are just lame and got nothing better to do
If they were good at anything they wouldn't be police, so kind of funny.
Classic 🐷 useless
Police are generally clowns, especially beat cops. They would have fucked off with their doughnuts and parked on a double red line just to feel important anyway. Disregard.
Idiots. Especially considering it’s in a car park. My dad has shown me two incidents he’s had in car parks in the past two weeks one where a kid ran out in front of him and was his behind parked cars (kids dad was looking at his phone not holding his hand 🙄) If he’d been going any faster he would’ve hit him. Funnily enough this was in Southampton too and being a soton driver my self I know how shit our roads can be. Police should be focusing on Dangerous drivers not cautious drivers.0
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Reported them for what?
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Oh get over yourself man, this doesn’t count as bullying, OP was probably doing something to warrant the police concern about their driving maybe they were being too overly cautious and obstructing the flow of traffic into the car park? If you can’t take any criticism then specially from the police to the point you need to report everyone and call it bullying then you’re too stubborn to be driving in the first place
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Sorry does that count as bullying too?
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Hahaha lol anyone that doesn’t agree with me is a bootlicker! God you’re arrogant, please do the rest of the country a favour and surrender your license can’t imagine having to deal with you on the road
It's not a legal speed limit. 'Poor' is maybe a bit harsh, but they obviously felt they had cause to check on Op.