A panda car, or just panda, is a small or medium sized marked British police car.

History of the term

The term 'panda car' was first used to refer to black police cars with panels that had been painted white to increase their visibility. It was later applied to blue and white police cars. There is a record of

Salford City Police Salford City Police was the police force responsible for policing the borough (later city) of Salford, near Manchester, England from 1844 through to 1968. Prior to Salford gaining city status in 1926 the force was called Salford Borough Police. ...

using black and white

Hillman Minx The Hillman Minx was a mid-sized family car that British car maker Hillman produced from 1931 to 1970. There were many versions of the Minx over that period, as well as badge-engineered variants sold by Humber, Singer, and Sunbeam. From t ...

s in 1960. The chief constable of the

Lancashire Constabulary Lancashire Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing the ceremonial county of Lancashire in North West England. The force's headquarters are at Hutton, near the city of Preston. , the force has 3,088 police officers ...

referred to the use of blue and white

Ford Anglia The Ford Anglia is a small family car that was designed and manufactured by Ford UK. It is related to the Ford Prefect and the later Ford Popular. The Anglia name was applied to various models between 1939 and 1967. In total, 1,594,486 Anglias ...

panda cars in

Kirkby Kirkby ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. The town, historically in Lancashire, has a size of is north of Huyton and north-east of Liverpool. The population in 2016 was 41,495 making it the largest ...

in an article in ''The Times'' on 26 January 1966. Ford anglia

In 1967, the

Dunbartonshire Dunbartonshire ( gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Breatann) or the County of Dumbarton is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the west central Lowlands of Scotland lying to the north of the River Clyde. Dunbartonshire borders Pe ...

force bought two Hillman Imps (subsequently nicknamed

Pinky and Perky ''Pinky and Perky'' is a children's television series first broadcast by BBC TV in 1957, and revived in 2008 as a computer-animated adaptation. Original series The title characters are a pair of anthropomorphic puppet pigs, named Pinky and ...

) for escort duties on the A82 road; one was blue, the other white. The boot lids,

bonnet A Bonnet is a variety of headgear, hat or cap Specific types of headgear referred to as "bonnets" may include Scottish * Blue bonnet, a distinctive woollen cap worn by men in Scotland from the 15th-18th centuries And its derivations: ** Fea ...

s and doors were then swapped to create a panda car style scheme. In the 1980s, police cars in the United Kingdom began to be ordered in white to reduce purchase costs, usually with orange or red " jam sandwich" reflective stripes. Today, patrol cars use

Battenburg markings Battenburg markings or Battenberg markings are a pattern of high-visibility markings developed in the United Kingdom in the 1990s and currently seen on many types of emergency service vehicles in the UK, Crown dependencies, British Overseas T ...

or stripes, although many forces still use a mainly white colour scheme. The name ''panda car'' or ''panda'' is still sometimes used.

Roles

In many areas, the panda car replaced the traditional "bobby on the beat",Vintage police cars: Morris Minor
"Policing in the 1970s. Colin Goodwin takes a Morris Minor panda car for a spin". '' Autocar'' 8 February 2012. Retrieved 6 November 2020 when it was seen that larger suburban or rural areas could be more effectively patrolled by officers in cars, as opposed to on foot, bicycles, or

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

s.When Panda began street patrol
''

Lancashire Telegraph The ''Lancashire Telegraph'', formerly the ''Lancashire Evening Telegraph'', is a local tabloid newspaper distributed in East Lancashire, England. It is edited by Karl Holbrook. There are around twenty towns in the area, including Blackburn, B ...

'', 1 May 2003. Retrieved 6 November 2020 The provision of shelter from the weather, and a two way radio, were also benefits. The panda is distinct from the "area car", a larger and more powerful vehicle which acts as support to the beat constables, usually carrying two officers. Current usage within the Metropolitan Police Service uses the term "panda car" to refer specifically to a marked car driven by a basic driver (i.e., one constrained to drive within normal traffic rules, and who may not use the vehicle's siren). This contrasts with an IRV (immediate response vehicle) which could be exactly the same vehicle but driven by a response driver (i.e., one trained and permitted to disregard certain traffic laws and use the siren, as one would normally expect from police vehicles). The callsign attached to the vehicle for the duration of the shift should normally make it clear whether it is functioning as a panda or IRV at the time.

References

{{Reflist

Sources

* Article by the chief constable of Lancashire in ''The Times'' (Mobility Answer to Police Shortage (News) Colonel T. E. St. Johnston - The Times, Wednesday, 26 January 1966; pg. 13; Issue 56539; col F)

External links

Image of two-tone vehicles used by Salford Police, Manchester, England circa 1960

Law enforcement in the United Kingdom Police vehicles Police culture

History of the term

Roles

See also

References

Sources

External links