Fill in what you have and the description appears here.
The order that works
| Order | What | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Colour | dark blue |
| 2 | Make and model | Ford Focus |
| 3 | Body type and age | hatchback, fairly new |
| 4 | Registration, then spelled | LB22 XYZ, Lima Bravo Two Two X-ray Yankee Zulu |
| 5 | Distinguishing features | dent on the rear offside, roof box |
| 6 | Occupants | two males, driver in a grey hoodie |
| 7 | Location and what it is doing | parked on Station Road, engine running |
| 8 | Direction of travel | last seen heading north towards the A40 |
Colour and make come first because they are what a colleague can see from a distance. The plate comes once, spelled once. If you are not sure of a character, say so: "possibly Bravo" is more useful than a confident wrong letter.
Tips from the control room
- Partial plates are still useful. "Starts Lima Bravo, two two, ends Zulu" narrows a search a long way.
- Offside and nearside, not left and right. Offside is the driver's side in the UK; it does not change with the direction you are looking from.
- Keep updating the direction. The vehicle moves; the rest of the description does not.
- Write it down the moment you have passed it. The same description goes in your incident report and, if it comes to it, your witness statement.
Spell anything else with the phonetic alphabet; describe the people with the person description builder. Vehicle checks and descriptions are part of the Security Guard course and the CCTV Operator course.
FAQ
How do you describe a vehicle over the radio?
Colour, make, model, body type, then the registration spelled in the phonetic alphabet, then features, occupants, location and direction of travel, ending with "over".
How do you say a number plate in the phonetic alphabet?
One character at a time: LB22 XYZ is Lima Bravo Two Two, X-ray Yankee Zulu. Numbers are single digits, zero is "zero".
What is offside and nearside?
In the UK the offside is the driver's side (right) and the nearside is the kerb side (left). Use them in reports so the side is unambiguous.