Everyone loves a good Hollywood blockbuster at times, and getting enthralled by a police chase can be a highlight of an action flick. But when it comes to real life, you can find yourself wondering if certain things ever actually happen, police commandeering a vehicle in the name of the law being one of them.
Well, in scenes that look like they could be ripped straight from the silver screen, Metropolitan Police officers appear to have commandeered two rental bicycles in a viral TikTok video. MyLondon reports social media users have been lapping up the film-like action sequence with some jokingly accusing them of "watching too many movies".
The video, posted by @garethfreiheit from beside the River Wandle in Merton, is captioned: "POV: The British police are in pursuit of a man cycling away with a stolen bottle of Hennessy." In the video we see two officers stop members of the public to take their bikes and chase after the thief who has already bolted.
There are another two officers who have bikes but it's unclear if they are police issued cycles or if they too have been commandeered. The startled members of the public hand over their bikes, which appear to be HumanForest rental bikes, without question and the chase ensues.
Later in the video we see a picture of an abandoned bottle of Hennessy on the pathway, with no police or thief in sight. Many people have commented on the video sharing their amusement at the situation.
One person commented: "Naa they have watched too many movies." Another referenced the movie Hot Fuzz saying: "Don't think I've ever actually seen a police officer who can run apart from Sergeant Angel [played by Simon Pegg in the movie]."
A third person commented: "Multiple stabbings per week… nothing happens. A kid steals a bottle of booze, every cop in the Met is requisitioning bikes to chase him. Wow."
In the picture taken of the bottle it seems as if the bottle of Hennessy is almost empty. This was not lost on one person who commented: "He drank most of it and still got away haha."
The question was asked in the comments as to whether you have to give your bike over to the police when asked. There is no law that says you have to hand over a vehicle or bike, but you could technically be prosecuted for obstructing an officer in the execution of their duty.
The reality, though, is you would have to be doing something deliberate to stop them apprehending someone and refusing to hand over your own bike or car is unlikely to result in a conviction. The question of whether a private car can be commandeered by the Met Police has been raised for almost 90 years.
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MyLondon found an answer to a Parliamentary question on this exact subject in Hansard records from 1934. In response to the question, MP Douglas Hacking says: "The police have no power to commandeer private motor cars. They may ask a driver to help them by affording transport when they are following a criminal or responding to an urgent call."
He said that had happened 35 times in the Metropolitan Police district in the previous year. On a police community forum, in which serving and former police officers discuss things related to policing, the same question was asked in 2008 about commandeering vehicles and whether it was legal.
One forum member responded by saying: "I had a Sgt once who commandeered a tram to catch a shoplifter. He caught the shoplifter and the tourists thought it was great. He is retired now but definitely a legend!"
Another member of the forum said that he worked with an officer who had commandeered a pedal bike. The comment said: "He stopped some lad on the bike, told him to get off it and went to a job. However, whilst going to the job the lad had called the police and stated that he had just been robbed by a person dressed as a police officer. The call came out over the radio for observations and the officer shouted back, 'I'M THE OFFICER WHO HAS TAKEN THE BIKE, NO NEED TO WORRY'."
