 At 2.30 p.m., another car—a red Ford Capri with Northern Ireland registration plates—slowly drove past the station three times.Superintendent Buchanan normally parked his car in front of the station.Unknown to either Breen or Buchanan, the latter's Cavalier had already been identified by the IRA as an "RUC vehicle" and they had tailed the car on one of Buchanan's earlier visits to Dundalk.