FINE OF £25

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 59, Issue 128, 13 March 1939, Page 3

FINE OF £25

INTOXICATED IN A CAR. DOUBLE ACCIDENT NEAR MORVEN. (Special to the “Guardian.”) TIMARU, This Day. A double accident occurred on the main road near Morven on Friday night when a car crashed into the bridge over the Elephant Hill Creek, turning on its side, and some time later another motorist met the stationary par in a head-on collision. None of the three occupants of the first car were injured, but the driver of the second car received slight injuries to the back. Constable W. Watt and Traffic-In-spector J. Scott were called to the scene of the accident about 10 p.m., and found a sedan car lying on its side just clear of the south end of the bridge. The driver, James Ernest Melvin, of Mayfield, and two male passengers were uninjured. Travelling south, the car had struck the side, of the bridge and had completely torn away the railing, to overturn after clearing the bridge. While the party (was at the scene of the accident a motor-lorry approached from the north and remained on the bridge, unable to pass. Later a ear was observed approaching from the south, and although Constable Watt signalled it with a torch to stop, it came on and crashed head-on into .the overturned car and turned over into the creek-bed, after forcing the stationary car back several, yards. The driver of the second car, Mr James Robert Shearer, of Seacliff, who was injured about the back, was conveyed to the Waimate Public Hospital by a passing motuust. A woman passenger was not injured. The sequel was heard in the, Magistrate’s Court on Saturday morning, before Messrs ,P. v -Grant and C. L. H. Gunn, .J.Ps., when Melvin was charged with being intoxicated in charge of a car. He was fined £25 and ordered to pay medical expenses £1 Is. His driving licence was cancelled and he was prohibited from obtaining another for 18 months.