The record
In the late 1970s South Yorkshire Police, like several English forces, ran Series III Land Rover hard tops as public-order vans: tough, simple vehicles that could carry a serial of officers and their shields and take a stoning. YYX 315T, registered in 1978, carries the classic fittings — a hinged mesh guard over the windscreen, blue lamps beside the grille, a spot lamp on the bonnet and POLICE on the hard-top sides — in the force's dark navy. It is preserved by the National Emergency Services Museum in Sheffield, where ukemergency.co.uk photographed it displayed with a riot-equipped officer, a reminder of the force's role in the 1984–85 miners' strike.
The registry's model is a Series III 109 hard top in navy with the screen mesh, grille blues, bonnet lamp, POLICE lettering, black wheels and plates; in the game it carries the blue-light boost.
