Morris/BL Ital van EST448X (first registered September 1981)- location FORT WILLIAM circa 1982.

These shots were on slides given to me a long time back, and which I I have only recently managed to "develop" thanks to the gift of an elderly scanner with slide/negative capability. They nicely depict the early styles of Northern Constabulary vehicle livery.

NORTHERN CONSTABULARY VEHICLE LIVERY

At the outset in May 1975, at the creation of Northern Constabulary, there was no definitive livery set in respect t of the force’s marked vehicle fleet.

PERIOD 1 (1975-1980) plain era (CC: Henderson) Traffic patrol vehicles, and - over time – various other vehicles most likely to patrol major roads and/or attend incidents thereon, were fitted with a broad reflective orange stripe, edged with blue tape. Other GP (= General Purpose) vehicles were plain white (or also in the case of some vans - blue, whether navy, royal or light according to what were available for purchase). A white on blue plate, or blue reflective lettering (red on rear) was applied to the front and rear of all vehicles. All marked vehicles had only a single blue rotating beacon at that time, unless twin-beacons came as part of a roof box.

PERIOD 2 (1980-1995) roundel era (CC: Henderson/MacMillan) During 1979 Superintendent George Henderson designed a Force Badge, which was taken into use at the beginning of 1980. As well as use as epaulette insignia and on official stationery, the circular design was printed in black on white reflective material and applied to the driver’s and front passenger doors of all marked vehicles in the Force. Traffic and other “trunk road” vehicles continued to bear the orange stripe along their length. The first issue decal was of 12 inch diameter and was intended to be sited right in the centre of the door panel. As vehicle design evolved however , and door/wing protective strips became part and parcel of vehicles, so it was found that the large door decal could no longer be fitted appropriately without cutting the design. Accordingly a revised version of the decal was produced, of 8 inch diameter, and would if necessary be applied over the orange reflective stripe to ensure the decal was proud of the door protective strip.

PERIOD 3 (1996-2005) blue stripe era (CC: Robertson/Latimer)

In order to create a “corporate identity” for the force, Chief Constable Robertson commissioned a project to produce a new corporate livery. By this time the "12 Sub Divisions and 3 Divisions" model had become obsolete (but was subsequently re-invented!) so the border of the Force Badge was no longer appropriate – albeit the epaulette insignia was never changed. This revamping involved focusing upon the centrepiece of the badge – the St Andrews Cross with 4 Celtic knots, and using that device within its circle, on a vertical blue stripe. The Force title in large lettering, and continued use of the bilingual motto (although initially a corporate slogan was to replace same) appeared to its right. This design was accompanied by a change to yellow (bordered with blue) reflective stripe the length of the vehicle - with a suitable gap for where the new logo would appear. An experiment was subsequently attempted, using a silver-grey car but it was found that the logo was woefully ineffective on a background colour other than white and the use of silver or grey vehicles for marked duty was not re-visited until "Battenberg" days. A few of the older vehicles which already had orange stripe were rebadged with stripe left in situ, but all other vehicles including GP ones were quickly re-liveried, a move which went down well with the rank-and-file. There can be little doubt that this livery was the smartest of any ever used in the Highlands and Islands.

PERIOD 4 (2005 – 2013) Battenberg era (CC: Latimer/Graham)

The results of the Home Office Scientific Branch research into Police vehicle visibility resulted in their 2004 Report: “High Conspicuity Livery for Police Vehicles. The report (14/04) carried on from previous research which had seen the “Battenberg” livery introduced from 1998 in an number of UK Police forces for Traffic vehicles. The report found that the Battenberg design , being a “diced band” two deep of alternating blue and yellow cubes, taking up almost the entire height of the vehicle’s side bodywork was the optimum design, and should be adopted for road patrol vehicles. Half Battenberg (one deep stripe of alternating blue and yellow along the length of the vehicle, with large blue lettering POLICE below) was recommended for GP vehicles. This proposal was accepted by ACPO and ACPOS and in late 2005 Northern Constabulary began to adopt that style. Excising Road Policing Unit (formerly Traffic) vehicles were immediately re-liveried to Battenberg, while all new GP vehicles entering the fleet from then on would be liveried as half Battenberg as part of their setting up. Existing GP vehicles would continue to bear their existing livery and thus the new livery would gradually be fully introduced through natural attrition. Force identify on the new livery would be maintained by means of a much smaller version of the corporate logo/title on the leading yellow cube on the driver and front passenger door.