LYTTELTON NEWS

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27680, 9 June 1955, Page 9

LYTTELTON NEWS

MAGISTRATE’S COURT

Wilfred Otto Clayton, aged 60, a farmer, of Teddington, was fined £25 and his driving licence was cancelled for 12 months when he appeared before Mr Rex C. Abernethy, S.M., in the Lyttelton Magistrate’s Court yesterday, on a charge of driving a motorcar while under the influence of liquor or drugs. Clayton, who pleaded guilty, was represented by Mr A. Hearn.

Senior-Sergeant J. L. Graham said that at 4.45 p.m. on June 3 he saw Clayton passing the police station on his incorrect side. He was not driving fast, and began to cross over on to the correct side as he approached the Oxford street intersection.

From what he saw -of the driver and his erratic driving, said SeniorSergeant Graham, he concluded that the driver was the worse for liquor. On his instructions, Sergeant T. Thomson and a constable saw the man when he stopped in London street, and the sergeant arrested him.

Clayton was a man of good repute, said Senior-Sergeant Graham, and he had never been in trouble before. At the police station he had expressed regret at what he had done, and thankfulness that he had not been the cause of any accident. Clayton had been a soldier in the First World War, said Mr Hearn. He suggested that Clayton might now be suffering from the belated effects of his service. He had not been driving fast, but was affected by the late afternoon sun shining directly into his eyes as he" approached the intersection. The disqualification which must automatically follow his conviction would alone be a severe punishment to Clayton, said Mr Hearn, and he submitted that a penalty less than imprisonment would meet the case. Damage to Wall Ernest Julian, a waterside worker, aged 23, pleaded guilty to a charge of damaging a wall at the Lyttelton railway station to the extent of 15s. He was fined £2 and ordered to pay the amount of the damage. On a further charge of being found in possession of illegal lottery tickets he was fined £2. For permitting a person other than himself to drive a rental car, Samuel Alfred Bettridge was fined £4. Maureen Margaret Kia vs, for driving without a licence, was fined £3. k Sanuiel 4or Xailiug to

keep to the left, was fined £3. For parking on the incorrect side of the roadway, Leslie John Walton was fined 10s. For having no driver’s licence he was fined 10s. Licensing Charges Dismissed Charges against Frank Mitchell, licensee of the Saxon Hotel (Mr W. F. Brown), of opening the premises for the sale of liquor after hours, and of exposing liquor for sale after hours, were dismissed. Avon Warrimoo Flutey pleaded not guilty to a charge of being on the licensed premises of the Saxon Hotel after hours. The charge was dismissed. A charge against Lance Bruce Hayward, an employee of the Saxon Hotel, for whom Mr A. Hearn appeared, of aiding and abetting Flutey in the offence of being on the premises of the hotel after hours was dismiEMd,