Coppers - Season 1 Episode 2 Traffic

The series takes to the fast lane with Cambridgeshire's traffic cops: the petrolheads who are happiest racing to the rescue, or nicking drink drivers, and like nothing better than 'giving out love' (issuing speed tickets) with their 'love scope' (speed gun). 'I love nicking people,' says PC Leigh Fenton. 'I'd lock everybody up all day if I could.' The film reveals the close bonds that develop between the officers, and the banter they use as a shield against the part of the job they all dread: informing the next of kin when someone dies as a result of a traffic accident. PCs Terry Sharpe and Stuart Appleton have spent three years sharing driving duties in their Volvo V70: 'People have said we're like an old married couple. We bicker and we argue. We have a laugh,' says PC Sharp. But, despite the training and camaraderie, informing the next of kin after accidents never gets any easier: 'Saying the words that 'I've just been to an accident and it's my duty to tell you that your wife has died.' And there's no beating around the bush. You've got to tell them in no uncertain terms, that 'your wife has died.' And the reaction you get after that... that's the thing you think about,' says PC Appleton.