In his last blog, Shaun Cronin cast his mind back to a tragic incident he had attended, early in his career as a police traffic officer. In a recent staff presentation Shaun shared an image of the incident in question. Without describing it in detail here, it was obvious from the wreckage of the car, an Austin Allegro, that its driver had no chance of surviving the impact.

With the festive season now upon us my mind occasionally turns back to Christmas 1990, 14 December to be precise on a very cold early turn. An ordinary routine patrol day now etched forever on my memory.

On Wednesday night I sensibly got an early night, conscious that the following day would be a busy one – our Annual General Meeting preceded by a meeting with our trustees.

I was lucky enough to spend a few days on holiday in Iceland recently and as always I could not resist comparing their driving with our own back here in the UK. I would have looked out for the odd biker but I don’t recall seeing any at all!

It is 100 years since the end of World War I. This month is also 100 years since my grandfather died of his wounds, at home in Scotland. He was a steam vehicle driver in the Army Service Corps (now the Royal Logistics Corps).