Page 150 - Once a copper 10 03 2020

Armed robbery Natwest Bank Kingstanding

Readers born before the mid-eighties will remember
a TV show hosted by Shaw Taylor. The original series
was produced by ITV and broadcast as five-minute
episodes, hence its name, Police 5, every week for
thirty years. He hosted the program from its launch in
1962 through three decades, ending its original run in
the early 1990s.

He would end each edition of the show with his
“Keep ’em peeled!” catchphrase for which he
became famous.
Figure 67 Shaw Taylor 'Police 5'
I was to meet the man, who many members of the 1962 - 1992
public mistook for a senior police officer, following an
incident where I was involved whilst working at Kingstanding.

Kingtanding nick had its own three-quarter sized snooker table which was
always popular at lunch-time and as an end-of-shift wind down. Whilst not a
great player by any means, I loved the game having been brought up on it
in the clubs by my dad and brothers.

One lunchtime a couple of us were having a game and as was the norm, our
ties and tunics were off, our radios resting on the table. Suddenly the call
came over the radio “Bank robbery in progress now, Natwest Kingstanding,
any officers that can respond please?” I grabbed my radio and shouting into
it “8777 I’m over the road, on my way” in between breaths as I ran. I bolted
across the Kings Road towards Kingstanding Circle, traffic screeching to a
halt as I dodged the cars.
Natwest bank was situated at street level, but I knew there was a counting
house in the upstairs of the bank that looked out onto an upper level car
park, fed by a ramp. I made for the foot of the ramp to see a Ford Granada
travelling at speed fly onto the down ramp, its wheels of the floor. I could tell
they wouldn’t stop so no daft heroics. I didn’t have time to think, I drew my
peg, a pathetic wooden truncheon and as the Granada approached, I
threw it as hard as I could at the windscreen. I heard it crack but it wasn’t
enough to stop them.

As if in slow motion, I fell backwards off the ramp, but I remember to this day
my fear as I saw four men in balaclavas in the car and what really made my
heart thump was the sight of the bloke in the back seat behind the driver,
window wound down with a sawn off shotgun pointing outward at me. I
remember shouting “Bastards!” as they left the ramp and turned left onto
Kings Road and made good their escape. Page150