BikeSafe was a valuable experience for me so I'd just like to congratulate Martyn Hillier on being awarded the Queens Police Medal.
Extract from the Gloucestershire Echo....
After 35 years of helping bikers to be safer on the county’s roads, retired police officer Martyn Hillier has been awarded the Queen’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service.
Mr Hilllier has received the medal in the New Years Honours List after establishing BikeSafe in 1978 as one of the country’s first police initiatives to reduce accidents for motorcyclists.
“Rather than wait for accidents to happen we decided to do something to prevent them happening,” he said.
“My colleagues and I decided to show the public how police motorcyclists ride and share their knowledge.
“Since then BikeSafe has gained pace and official backing.”
Mr Hillier said he believed it was the longest running similar police initiative in the country.
“People have come along to Bike Safe and said, ‘My dad came here in 1978.’”
“You can never prove you have prevented an accident but I hope that we have.”
Mr Hillier, 60, retired from Gloucestershire Police a year ago. He served 41 years with the force, and joined in 1971, the year that his father, also a police officer, died. ”I was allowed to change my collar number to my dad’s, so for 63 years their was a 520 Hillier in Gloucestershire police.”
He was stunned to receive notification of the medal. “It was a complete surprise and I’m very humbled,” he said.
Web link: http://www.gloucestershireecho.co.uk/New-Year-Honours-Gloucestershire-great-good/story-20380467-detail/story.html#ixzz2p4bfIIiR
Extract from the Gloucestershire Echo....
After 35 years of helping bikers to be safer on the county’s roads, retired police officer Martyn Hillier has been awarded the Queen’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service.
Mr Hilllier has received the medal in the New Years Honours List after establishing BikeSafe in 1978 as one of the country’s first police initiatives to reduce accidents for motorcyclists.
“Rather than wait for accidents to happen we decided to do something to prevent them happening,” he said.
“My colleagues and I decided to show the public how police motorcyclists ride and share their knowledge.
“Since then BikeSafe has gained pace and official backing.”
Mr Hillier said he believed it was the longest running similar police initiative in the country.
“People have come along to Bike Safe and said, ‘My dad came here in 1978.’”
“You can never prove you have prevented an accident but I hope that we have.”
Mr Hillier, 60, retired from Gloucestershire Police a year ago. He served 41 years with the force, and joined in 1971, the year that his father, also a police officer, died. ”I was allowed to change my collar number to my dad’s, so for 63 years their was a 520 Hillier in Gloucestershire police.”
He was stunned to receive notification of the medal. “It was a complete surprise and I’m very humbled,” he said.
Web link: http://www.gloucestershireecho.co.uk/New-Year-Honours-Gloucestershire-great-good/story-20380467-detail/story.html#ixzz2p4bfIIiR
