POLICE Scotland have been accused of hypocrisy after a patrol car drove through a zebra crossing – forcing two children to stop.
A dashcam video shows one of the youngsters is forced to pull up sharply as the marked car – which does not have its blue lights on – passes through.
The driver who filmed the incident stopped at the crossing for the girls and was undertaken by the police car in Edinburgh.
The video comes just a few weeks after another clip showed a Police Scotland van overtake and narrowly avoid hitting a cyclist. Police had just warned motorists they faced being pulled over for passing cyclists with less than 5ft to spare.
The latest footage, captured on Tuesday (OCT 17), begins with a woman and her dog going over the pedestrian crossing while the stationary dashcam car waits.
A few seconds later two children can be seen approaching from the left, carrying plastic bags and looking as if they are about to head straight across.
The elder of the the two spots the police car at the last moment and pulls up sharply.
The police vehicle then heads straight through the crossing, barely slowing down.
A spokesman for Scotland’s Worst Drivers, who obtained the video, said: “I think it’s shocking that the police did not wait for the children to cross.
“Luckily the kids double checked it was safe to walk across. They can be clearly seen hesitating and good job too.
“There were no blues and twos indicating an emergency, so one can only assume this was a case of sheer impatience and hypocrisy.”
Police Scotland were accused also accused of hypocrisy in September this year, after footage taken in Dundee showed one of the force’s vans race pass a cyclist in wet weather – with just inches to spare.
The police force had recently cracked down on motorists driving too close to cyclists with Operation Close Pass.
This involved putting an officer on a bike, and any drivers who passed closer than 5ft to cyclist would be pulled over and “given advice using a specially designed mat which shows how much space a person on a bicycle needs when overtaking them.”
Officers in Essex were also criticised after footage emerged showing a marked vehicle swerve between motorway lanes multiple times.
The force claimed the footage was an example of advanced driving moves, so the officer could get a better view of the road ahead.
However, the video sparked an angry reaction on social media, where many claimed that they would have been immediately pulled over by a patrol car if they had driven in a similar fashion.
A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: “Police vehicles adhere to the Highway Code that outlines vehicles must give way once pedestrians have moved onto a zebra crossing to allow them to cross.
“Equally, we expect officers to be courteous towards other road users and pedestrians and have brought this to the attention of local officers.”
