Police Post Gatwick A23

[dr hue]

I scanned this from a book in Hillingdon library in 2007. Can't remember what the book was called.

Not sure of the exact location of this Police Post.

[starcross]

Not sure of the exact location of this Police Post.

Well that shouldn't be too hard to figure out, there are so many clues in the background. The sign for Gatwick airport, the Bus destination board, and the angle of the vehicles make it look like a roundabout. It should just be a matter of locating the route of the bus from records, and following that path along until the location is made known. 

I used to have a website for this, I can't find the link for it right now. Still it should be easy to locate with so many clues.

[Kingpin]

I think this post could be located on the south-western end of Gatwick Road Roundabout, where it meets the junction of the A23, Gatwick Road, and Perimeter Road South.

The road layout frustrated me for a while, as it looks like the road signs are installed on a grassy traffic island... But unable to find a similar looking feature along the stretch of the A23 during my search, I suspect it may've been eradicated by redevelopment of the route during the years since the photo was taken.




Factoring in the sign for Crawley (the southernmost terminus for the Green Line 727 route) the bus has only been on the return journey north for a little while.

Further evidence to suggest it's the Gatwick Road roundabout can be seen on the sign partially-obscurred by the van, which reads "-d Heath", and further south along the A23 is Lowfield Heath Roundabout, which also happens to join up with "Old Brighton Road".



Based on that, I believe the Police Post was approximately located roughly on the red dot:



-I hope more historical information will be able to help focus the location in greater detail - I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out the roundabout was substantially enlarged after the 1960s.

Here's a copy of the 727 bus route guide that I used to check the likely path of the bus: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/392270209374?ul_noapp=true