Meet The Owner - Joseph Lane and his Classic Police Fleet

Nearly four years ago, we met the 1965 ex-Leicester City Police Ford Anglia 105E De Luxe owned by Joseph Lane. Since then, his fleet has somewhat expanded. As he explains:

I currently have 14 police vehicles in my collection, the earliest from 1955 and the youngest from 2010. Eight members of the group are from the 1960s, and my interest in classic police vehicles was sparked by watching Heartbeat as a child. In addition, classic British films and programmes of the 1950s and 1960s, such as Dixon of Dock Green, Z-Cars, and Gideon’s Way etc, later inspired me.

Many of Joseph’s fleet represents the ‘Unit Beat’ policing introduced in 1965 by Lancaster Constabulary. Their officers began to patrol the Kirby area in duotone liveried Anglia 105Es nicknamed ‘Panda Cars’, which allowed them to cover a wider area. Two years later, eleven provincial forces and two London Met. Divisions adopted Unit Beat Policing. By 1968, the Home Office invested £2 million in the scheme, with the target of 3,000 Panda Cars nationwide in 1969. The Home Secretary Roy Jenkins believed, “People will always go to a policeman on foot or in a small car, but they would hesitate to stop a big black patrol car”.

Forces used a wide variety of Pandas, while the Gabrielli fleet reflects the popularity of the Morris Minor 1000. BMC/BLMC constructed the police versions on the standard Cowley production line, and Joseph’s line-up demonstrates how their liveries varied from county to county. Unlike larger patrol cars, the Morris Panda cars were intended to be crewed by a single officer; Derbyshire allowed their PCs to wear shoes behind the wheel as their regulation boots proved too big for the Minor’s pedals! By the 1970s, many constabularies replaced the Morris with the ADO16.

Joseph is a stickler for accuracy on his police cars, noting how a Panda car festooned with equipment is often wholly inauthentic. One example is the Met. Morris Minors, which deliberately lacked a blue lamp, two-note horns and a bell, was deliberate, as senior officers did not want the driver tempted to pursue villains. But, as Mr. Lane says, “When I started collecting and restoring, I made sure to research as much as possible to return the vehicles to 100% accuracy”.

Joseph often provides cars to media companies, and his advice to anyone contemplating such a move is to:

Join one of the many suppliers to film and television, all of which are only a Google search away. Sometimes it is who you know, and occasionally posts appear on Facebook asking for vehicles, so constantly have your ear to the ground. Unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly difficult to supply film and TV; I seem to be more busy with weddings, funerals, photo shoots and proms than film work at the moment.

And another member of the Lane line-up is a Wolseley 6/90 Series I that truly belongs in a Scotland Yard B-feature:

Superintendent Duggarn (Russell Napier): “Use the bell, Sergeant!”

Sergeant (Joe Wadham): “Yes Sir!”

Villain No. 1 in the Jaguar Mk. VII (Michael Balfour): “It’s the law, Guv’nor, and no mistake!”

Gang Boss (Sydney Tafler): “Turn left into that suspiciously convenient side street!”

Your host Edgar Lustgarten, back in the studio after a very good luncheon: “And it was here the villains made their fatal error”.

But that is another story.

With Thanks To: Joseph Lane