MGs were THE quintessential police car in UK forces for forty odd years from the mid thirties to the mid seventies. Then, for a variety of reasons, the marque, which had been the backbone of the many traffic fleets, died a lingering death and was put out of its misery with the West Midlands force running the last MG - a Maestro - in the late eighties.

Now, MG is back - and how. A lot's happened while they were away and although Ford and Vauxhall still dominate the market, Volvo, BMW, Nissan, Honda, Toyota, Renault, Citroen and Saab are all keen for a slice of the action in a fleet market which takes up to 2,000 new cars every year and is worth millions of pounds.

The annual National Association of Police Fleet Managers (NAPFM) conference is the biggest motor show you've never heard of. Held at an isolated airfield near Swindon it attracts police buyers from all over the UK and Europe and this year over 1,000 people travelled to the show and its associated conference to look at new products, talk prices and take stock of market trends.

MG had one of the more popular stands and displayed an array of ZRs, ZSs, ZTs and ZT Ts. Eyecatching in its silver and 'Battenburg' livery and taking centre stage was the latest ZT T - at the 2001 show police fleet salesman Gavin Thompson had one of the first ZT Ts rushed down the production line to display.

Things have moved on apace since them and Thompson - responsible for the lucrative police, military and diplomatic markets for MG Rover - was in upbeat mood at the conference. The latest police specification ZT T is one of just three police demonstrators the company has for evaluation, although there are moves to add another ZT T to the fleet, which will see them outnumber the saloon version by three to one. There is also talk of the ZS being kitted out in police livery - four were used at launch of the new range last summer in an arresting display on vehicle speed observation points at the side of the West Midlands motorway system.

After the first ZT T was shown at the NAPFM conference, feedback was so positive that MG produced a batch of 50 anthracite ZT 190 and 190+s, which did the rounds with every force in the UK earlier this year. The aim was simple - to make up ground which had been lost over the last 15 years or so when the company had to rely on Rover products - none of which were particularly inspiring - in the UK police fleet market.

Thompson, who has been dealing with police fleets for the last two years with MG Rover, knew a good product when he saw it and has been a prime mover in promoting the new MGs to police customers. An ex-army man, he worked for Jaguar in a similar role for eleven years and then moved to British Airways before joining the Rover group back in 2000.

Although not foolish enough to think customers would immediately be beating a path to his door, he admitted he was surprised by the amount of interest there has been in the new MG range. The company had a clean sheet of paper on which to develop the police specification range, and brought in West Midlands police fleet manager Jim Elias as a consultant at the design stage. Ironically, that force, part of the Central Motorway Policing group haven't committed themselves to buying any cars - yet.

Said Thompson: "The ZT and ZT T were excellent cars in their own right and that's been proved by the overwhelmingly positive responses we have had following their assessment nationwide."

Demonstrators went to almost all 52 forces on a three month loan and were standard - Thompson explained that the last thing he wanted to do was tweak them individually force by force which could have proved a logistical nightmare.

"They were unaltered in terms of power outputs, the suspension and the specification which was either 190 or 190+," he said.

The cars filtered out to fleets between September and October last year and as the assessment reports came back in, the company was more than pleased with feedback.

"Many officers were fulsome in their praise about their responsiveness, brakes, steering, handling and boot size," revealed Thompson.

He added: "The main reservations were regarding the suspension which some officers thought as too hard and the seats. The 2003 cars have a choice of suspensions and the seating problem which was mainly to do with scuffed bolsters has been easily solved by fitting standard Rover 75 seats."

The ZT T on display was booked out to the West Midlands blood transfusion team immediately after the show.

Its transformation to a response car for police and paramedic duty is neat and professional. Resplendent in silver - an increasingly popular livery for police vehicles which can have their Battenburg livery removed at the end of their duty to bring in a higher resale value - Thompson gave me a guided tour of the car, starting at the rear.

Opening the tailgate, he lifted the boot floor to reveal the electronics and radio equipment neatly tucked away in a secure box ahead of the spare wheel well. Police cars don't carry spare tyres and its 'instant mobility system' is stored to the left hand side of the luggage compartment. Twin rear red lights are specified atop the door and flash when it's left open at an incident, while the tonneau cover has been deleted.

The roof bars, though remain to carry the light bar while to the front of the car two more blue lights are mounted behind the grille and flash alternately with the headlight main beam.

Inside, a bank of 16 switches controlling the lights, emergency horns and other ancillaries dominates the centre console.

The overall impression is of a stylish but businesslike machine that both looks the part and can deliver when needed. With cars often on the road for 18 hours a day, Thompson was especially pleased that officers who assessed the ZTs identified no major reliability problems.

Police officers nationwide are known for their straightforward views and can be harshly critical of the some of the stranger decisions that are made when it comes to specifying police vehicles. Although many forces have vehicle user groups to get a cross section of views on how particular vehicles would match their own demands, it's often the bean counters who have the say at the end of the day.

"We had a lot of positive feedback from the show," revealed Thompson.

"The City of London force thought its ZT was wonderful and liked it so much they have booked the Tourer for evaulation, although they are especially keen on us building an automatic demonstrator which would be ideal for the unique demands that particular force faces.

Meanwhile, The Police Service of Northern Ireland has bought ten ZTs and Sussex is taking two ZT Ts. Wiltshire, well known for its eclectic vehicle fleet, is keen to try a ZT T, as are North Yorkshire. But the biggest deal that isn't yet in the bag is with one force that is now deciding on whether to replace its entire fleet of traffic Volvos with ZT Ts - an overwhelming thumbs up for the new range that will give a new meaning to the term Z cars in police fleets nationwide...

For a view from the driving seat, I spoke to Lancashire traffic office Sgt. Eric Marshall. A traffic cop for the majority of his 27 year career, he noted with a sense of irony that the force that put so much business MG's way between the '30s and '60s were among the first to abandon the cars when the range went off the boil in the mid seventies. Since then, the force has had Rover response cars - the later 2.5 800s were so unpopular due to their mechanical unreliability it did Rover's image a great deal of harm - and more recently 2.5 Vectras with either automatic or manual boxes.

Lancashire was among the first forces to try a ZT, which spent three months in the force's Pennine division that covers the towns of Burnley, Nelson and Colne along with more rural parts of the county where it borders North Yorkshire.

Eric was glad to swap his Vectra 2.5 auto response car to get behind the wheel of the ZT. The car worked hard for its living locally but proved more than match for the demands a busy road policing unit places on such a vehicle.

Eric ticked each box in the right place regarding driver accommodation and comfort, carrying capacity (the boot takes twelve traffic cones, two accident signs and four blue hazard warning lights) and ride and handling.

"We have had some perverse fleet decisions over the past few years and I personally don't like the Vectra that much at all," admitted Sgt Marshall. The ZT, though, elicited a much more positive response from Marshall who used it as a response car, putting a few thousands glitch free miles on the clock.

"Yes, I was very impressed with it," he said.

"The ZT was roomy, reliable, and quick enough where it counts. It even looked the part in anthracite and in my opinion would make an excellent vehicle.

"I said as much on the assessment form and other officers who drove it were equally impressed."

Eric's patch covers part of the M65 along with a mix of A, B and C class roads with plenty of challenging blackstuff in the hamlets and villages which are dotted around the area. Perhaps it would be too much to hope that Lancashire would instantly go back to its roots and order MGs all over again. That unfortunately won't be the case for the time being as Mondeos - with manual gearboxes - are just taking to the roads.

But MG has made an important positive first impression. With the rear wheel drive saloons and estates in line for introduction early next year, hopefully it'll only be matter of time before the force sees the light and orders MGs once more.

---

For the full picture on MGs in police service, there's one book enthusiasts must read:

'MG's on patrol' is the definitive work on MG police cars and the officers who drove them. Author Andrea Green from Magna Press wrote it in 1999 and records an era when MG police cars were a dominant force in the UK.