MAGISTRATE’S COURT MOTOR-CYCLISTS FINED £60; LICENCES CANCELLED

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27533, 15 December 1954, Page 11

MAGISTRATE’S COURT MOTOR-CYCLISTS FINED £60; LICENCES CANCELLED

Three motor-cyclists and two traffic officers of the Christchurch City Council were involved in an 80 miles an hour chase down Cashel street on the night of October 7. In the Magistrate’s Court yesterday all three motorcyclists were fined a total of £6O, and their licences were cancelled for two years by Mr L. N. Ritchie, S.M. The motor-cyclists did not appear. The young men, described by the prosecutor as “motor-cycle maniacs,’’ were Walter Mathew Patrick Campion, Malcolm William Lloyd, and Malcolm Ronald McDougall. Chief Patrol Officer P. Lunn said that the men were chased by a traffic patrol car along Cashel street about 10.10 p.m. They crossed seven intersections (including Fitzgerald avenue) at speeds rising from 65 miles an hour to 80 miles an hour with the patrol car, siren going, in their wake. Across Fitzgerald avenue they braked suddenly, the patrol car shot past them, and they turned around and rode off again in three different directions. One was found, exhausted, the engine of his motor-cycle almost red hot, outside a pie cart in Armagh street. The other two were run to earth at their homes, said Mr Lunn. Traffic Officers C. Acton and J. F. Kinghorn were sitting in a patrol car in Aidwins road near the corner of Linwood avenue when they heard in the distance a “terrific roar of motorcycle engines,’’ said Mr Lunn. “A few seconds later they were passed by three motor-cyclists, who crossed the Buckleys road intersection at an estimated 50 miles an hour. They turned into Cashel street with the traffic officers in pursuit, and crossed Olliviers road and Stanmore road at 65 miles an hour. The motor-cycles began to draw away from the car, and speed was increased to 70 miles an hour, but that made no impression, and the speed was increased still further. It is estimated that the three motor-cycles crossed Fitzgerald avenue at 80 miles an hour,’’ Mr Lunn said. Over Fitzgerald avenue the motorcyclists pulled up sharply, and the car overshot, but one of the officers was able to note their numbers, Mr Lunn said. While the car was turning the motor-cyclists regrouped in the centre of Cashel street, then shot off, one down Clarkson street, and the other two in opposite directions down Fitzgerald avenue. “We chased the man we thought to be the leader, but after a time he must have switched off his lights, for we lost track of him altogether,’’ said Traffic Officer Acton, driver of the patrol car. “I radioed the depot.’’

The pie cart was a recognised gathering point for “harum scarum motorcyclists’* of this kind, said Mr Lunn. The total distance of the “wild reckless chase would be about one and a third miles. The siren was going all the time and all other traffic was stopped within the area. But the motor-cyclists appeared to have no intention of stopping.’’ Traffic Officer Kinghorn supported Mr Alton’s evidence, and said he took the numbers iof the motor-cyclists as they passed. Senior Patrol Officer L. J. Wilson said he was on duty in the depot when the radio call came from the patrol car. He went to the pie cart, and there found McDougall. He took McDougall with his motor-cycle back to the depot, where he admitted the offence, but said that he was not travelling as fast as the officers said. * ‘Standing some distance from the motorcycle I could feel the heat coming from the engine,’’ said witness. Traffic Officers H. J. McMorran and H. B. Barker gave evidence of their interviews with Lloyd and Campion. Campion told Traffic Officer McMorran that “I would be doing about 30 or 40 miles an hour. I slowed for the intersection, the patrol car went past, and I turned and went home.’’ Lloyd, said Traffic Officer Barker, thought the siren was from an ambulance, and did not stop as he was in a hurry.

“These three men were very lucky that the inspectors took a hand in this escapade or there might have been three more deaths on the list,’’ said Mr Lunn. “The inspectors have to risk their lives in protecting people like this. One officer was killed down south last week, and we in our own branch have had officers seriously injured. Riding a motor-cycle is dangerous enough without having to chase maniacs.’’ All three were well known to the department and had previous convictions.

“The Court must not and cannot be oblivious to the danger and menace of these maniacs,’’ said the Magistrate. “What worries me most is that these officers have to take their lives.

into their hands to prevent these people from killing themselves and other people.” On the first charge of driving at a speed which might have been dangerous each man was fined £4O; on the second charge of failing to stop in answer to a siren they were each fined £2O. Each man’s driving licence was cancelled, and they were each prohibited from obtaining others for two years; Campion was ordered to apply to the Court after the two years before he could obtain a licence. REMANDED Gordon Charles MacArthur, aged 39, a driver (Mr J. G. Leggat), was remanded for sentence to December 16 on a charge of stealing boot polish, laces, cycle pump connector, a paint brush and a screwdriver of a total value of 9s, the property of Woolworths, Ltd., on December 10. Bail was renewed in the sum of £25 and one surety of £25 and he was ordered to report daily to the police. Alfred James Sampson, aged 23, a freezing worker (Dr. A. L. Haslam), pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl of 14 years five months. He was remanded to appear on December 16 and he was released on bail in the sum of £lOO and one surety of £lOO. A Probation Officer’s report was requested and accused was ordered to report daily to the police. THEFT OF BICYCLE

A youth whose name was ordered not to be published in the meantime was convicted on a charge that on November 14, 1953, he stole a bicycle valued at £25. He pleaded not guilty to the charge. He was represented by Mr H. S. Thomas. The youth was remanded to December 16 for sentence, the Magistrate asking for a report from the Probation Officer. He was allowed bail in his own recognisance of £lO and is to report daily to the police. The complainant, in evidence, said that on November 14, 1953, between 10.30 pjm. and 11.30 p.m. he left his bicycle outside a dance hall. The bicycle was missing when he went to recover it, and he notified the police. On November 29,• 1954, he saw the bicycle in Manchester street and informed the police. . Constable E. T. Mora said he waited by the bicycle until the defendant had come along and was unlocking the bicycle. The defendant had said he had bought the bicycle at a police sale. Witness produced a statement, alleged to have been made by accused. In the statement accused alleged that he bought the bicycle from a man named Peter King, for £5. Mr Thomas said accused did not attempt to disguise the cycle and rode it around Christchurch for a year before the proper owner found it. He submitted the onus of proof on the prosecution had not been discharged. The Magistrate said he could not accept the submissions. When first approached by Constable Mora, the accused said he had bought the machine at a police sale. He made an untruthful statement then. He said he bought the cycle from a man he did not know, well knowing it was worth more than he paid for it. As the evidence stood he had to enter a conviction, said the Magistrate.

4 FINES TOTAL £9 10s For five breaches of traffic regulations Ronald Trevor Anderson was fined a total of £9 10s. Senior Patrol Officer L. J. Wilson, of the City Council traffic department, said that he noticed the defendant riding a motorcycle along Fitzgerald avenue and then turn into a gateway. He went into the house and asked to see the motorcycle, but he was refused. Later he saw the lady of the house, who granted him permission.

“I found the motor-cycle covered up in the back yard. It had no warrant of fitness, it was not licensed, the rider did not hold a licence, it had only one registration plate, and it was not equipped with footrests for a pillion passenger.” “It is his first offence,” said Chief Patrol Officer P. Lunn. “He is one of a number of young men who tear up and down this stretch of road. They wait until after tea then make a T.T. course out of this piece of roadway.” On the charge of operating an unlicensed vehicle Anderson was fined £5; for having no driver’s licence, £2; for having no warrant of fitness for the machine, 10s; for having only one registration plate on the machine, costs only; for operating the machine without footrests for a passenger, £2. Costs, with the fines, made the total £l4 10s. DANGEROUS SPEED F6r driving at a speed which might have been dangerous, Cecil Noel

Gillum was Aned £4 and his driver’s licence was suspended for two months. Traffic Officer Hansen, of the Transport Department, said he checked Gillum’s speed from Church corner to Sockburn at 55 miles an hour. It was 1.20 a.m. on a Sunday, and after-dance traffic was fairly heavy. TRAFFIC CASES

Offenders prosecuted by the Transport Department were dealt with as follows: Exceeding speed limit: Malcolm Edgar Backhouse, £3; Johan Maria van Berkel, £2; Cornelius Geerings, £3; Maurice Bassett McClurg, £2. Failing to keep to the left: Thomas William Newton, £2.

Failing to produce driver’s licence: Russell George Cairns, £1 (failing to produce warrant of fitness, £1). Cases brought by the traffic department of the Christchurch City Council were dealt with as follows: Parking offences: Bruce Osmond Alexander, £2; William Austin, £1; Barney McGoregal Blake, £2; Raines Irving Bloxam, 10s; Dan Gavin Clarke, 10s; Leonard William Coughlin. 10s; Jorgen Nicola Dalhoff, £1; Robert Gordon Patrick Dunn, £3; Charles Robert Fairbairn, £4; lan Humphrey Forbes, 10s: Hugh Reginald Fuller, 10s; Janet Elizabeth Grigg, £1; Stanley Wynne Jameson, £2; Carlyle Mora Kavanagh, £1 10s; Eugene Raymond Klign, £2 10s; Albert Lupi, £2; Leslie May Matson. £1; Jurzy Paniflow, £1; lan Meredith Paterson, £2; Ivan Arthur Shipp, £1; Frank William Slade, £2; Murray Mullin Smith, £1; William Edwin Taylor, £2 10s; Thomas Hill Trewern, £1; Eric Edwin Vaile, £3.

Breach of compulsory stop sign regulations.—John Frederick Ayres, £1; Arthur William Benton, £2 (no warrant of fitness, £1); John Wallace Dalton, £2; Hendrikus de Gouw, £2; Henry Francis D. Meares, £2. Exceeding speed limit.—Murray William Drury, £3; Ronald Alexander Gremmell, £4; Thomas William Hodder, £3; William Albert McCallum, £4 (failing to produce driver’s licence, £1); Raymond Bryce Nichols, £2; Stewart Stanley Phillips, £3; John Raymond Dacre, £3 (no warrant of fitness 10s). No driver’s licence.—Barry Baxter, £2; Doreen Martha Lewis, £1; Christopher McDowell, £1; William Arthur Norman Potter, £3; Charles George Stevens, £1 (supplying false information, £1); Edward William Noel Young, £2 (failing to stop at compulsory stop sign, £2). Cycling at night without lights.— James Campbell, £1 (ho red rear Light, 10s): Maurice Nimmo, £1 (no red rear light, 10s); Terence Noonan, £1 (no red rear light, 10s); Francis Patrick Roach, £1 (no red rear light, 10s).

Operating unlicensed trailer, John Tregonwell Davison, £2. Carrying pillion passenger while restricted to L plates.—Robert de Bouter, £2; Frederick George Lidgett, £2 (insufficient lights, £2). Failing to give way to right.— Miyray Frederick Harris, £2 (no warrant of fitness, 10s). Operating motor-cycle with defective silencer.—Brian David Hill, £2. . No warrant of fitness.—Keith Edward Fitzgerald, 10s; Ojars Lusis, 10s (no front number plate. £2; proceeding against automatic lights, £2). Riding vehicle in a park.—Alexander Roderick Matheson, £2. Failing to give way to school patrol. —Horace Greeley Miller, £2. No certificate of fitness.—lvan Francis Partridge, £1; William Waddell, £1 (unlicensed heavy traffic vehicle, £5).

Illegible number plate.—Gavin Thomas Paterson, £2.

Overtaking vehicle at pedestrian crossing.—Andre Rouben Peters, £3. Operating overloaded motor-vehicle. —Gerald Joseph Robertson, £4.