In the 1960s, in addition to the Beatles and LSD, there were the Z-Cars. The long of memory – and tooth – will recognise a very young looking Brian Blessed, Frank Windsor and Judi Dench in this clip – Stratford Johns is absent for some reason.

But, of course, it was really all about the cars. And it still is; the trouble is, they have turned into camper vans and everyone laughs at them. It is hard not to laugh at the police these days, though.

With a top speed of just 80 mph it is more likely to cause traffic jams than strike fear into the hearts of Birmingham’s hardened criminals.

But this camper van, complete with full West Midlands Police livery, has been deployed on the mean streets of Britain’s second city.

Embarrassed officers complain they are being openly mocked every time they are seen driving the 3.5-tonne motor home.