MAGISTRATE'S COURT Truck Driver Fined For Failing To Stop

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27670, 28 May 1955, Page 9

MAGISTRATE'S COURT Truck Driver Fined For Failing To Stop

The driver of a truck who failed to stop after a collision in Tuam street was fined £lO by Mr Rex C. Abernethy, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday. He was Ralph Pycroft, a brickworks employee, of Glentunnel, who pleaded guilty to the charge and also guilty to driving a motor-truck in a dangerous manner in Tuam street on March 4 and guilty to having no driver’s licence.

He was fined £4 for dangerous driving, and prohibited from obtaining a licence for 28 days. He was fined 10s for not having a driver’s licence. Sub-Inspector J. C. Fletcher said that about 12.20 a.m. on March 4 Pycroft xvas driving north along High street at 30 miles an hour and turned left into Tuam street, where he was on his wrong side. His truck collided with a taxi, but he did. not stop. The taxi driver gave chase and caught him in Lichfield street. A little liquor came into the case. The defendant said he was going to stop but his passenger told him to keep going. He told the taxi driver he would pay for the damage, as he was in the wrong. The Magistrate told Pycroft that it was dangerous driving. He was on his wrong side, hit another vehicle and drove off, leaving the other vehicle to its own devices.

“I did not know I had hit * him until he came after me,” said Pycroft. “I can’t accept that,” said the Magistrate. TRAFFIC OFFENCES The following persons were prosecuted by the police for breaches of the traffic regulations and penalties were imposed as stated:— Failing to give way.—Louis Amos Bennett, £2; Howard Whear, £2; Bernard Francis Smith, £2; Mervyn Osborne, £2; John Henry Reed, £3 (no warrant of fitness, £1); Douglas Benjamin McKay, costs only, Jan Fomanns Van Tulder, £2. Failing to signal when stopping.— Henry Palmer, £l. Using a motor-vehicle without due care and attention.—James Alexander Robb, £2; James Dartnell Renton, £1; Trevor Russell Clark, £3 (no warrant of fitness, £1); Wilfred Malcolm Stretch, £2; Huia Charles Lawson, £2. Failing to stop at compulsory stop sign.-*-Donald Stanley Kerr, £5. Insufficient lights on motor-car.— Hilton Russell Jerard, £2 (no warrant of fitness, £1). No warrant of fitness.—Robin James Radford, £1; William David Morgan, 10s; John Fullerton Cullen, £1; Patrick Lawrence Charles Daley, £l. No driver’s licence.—lan Stanley Claridge, £1; Peter Lawrence Harkess, £2. ‘Parting with possession of his driver’s licence.—Stanley Edward Arthur Radford, 30s. CHARGE DISMISSED Norman Frederick Ellis pleaded not guilty to a charge of using a motorvehicle without due care and' attention. The charge was dismissed. The Magistrate said that Ellis might have been in the wrong but the police could not prove it. There was not sufficient evidence. REMANDED Joseph Christopher Witana, aged 28, a truck driver, was remanded to June 2 on a charge that on February 13 at Patea he stole a motor-car valued at £325, the property of George Arthur Leet. He was allowed bail in his own recognisance of £lOO and one surety of £2OO, on condition that he reports daily to the police. George Edgar Pengelly, aged 58, a labourer, was remanded to June 2 on a charge that he attempted to steal £25, the property of Yee Chung Chow, on May 26. He was allowed bail in his own recognisance of £25 and one surety of £5O, on condition that he reports daily to the police.

Thomas John Henry Foote, aged 48, a labourer and storeman, and John Cousens, aged 30, a labourer and watersider (Mr B. J. Drake), were remanded to June 2 on a charge that on May 26 they obtained from David John Upton a pair of shoes valued at £2 16s and the sum of £l5 16s by falsely representing that a cheque for £lB 12s was a good and valid one. Each was allowed bail in his own recognisance of £5O and one surety of £75, on condition that he reports daily to the police. Doris Kay Reginald Watene, aged 28, a factory worker, was remanded to June 2 on a charge of breaking the terms of her probation. She was allowed bail in her own recognisance of £lO and one surety of £2O, on condition that she reports daily to the police. CHARGE DISMISSED A man, whose name was ordered not to be published and who was represented by Mr B. J. Drake, pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempting to commit suicide. “This man has been extremely silly. He made a foolish, wild gesture when he drank the liquid from the bottle. But it could not be poison. I am not prepared to find that he attempted to commit suicide,” said the Magistrate after hearing the evidence for the prosecution. The Magistrate dismissed the charge and told the man to go home and put things right with his wife.