CAR OBSTRUCTED RAILWAY LINE

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29232, 16 June 1960, Page 5

CAR OBSTRUCTED RAILWAY LINE

Defendant Fined £lO At Lyttelton

When Peter Michael Clarence Sleeman attempted to drive his car across the railway yard at Lyttelton on the evening on April 2 the car became stuck on the main line, and only the prompt action of the signalman on duty at the tunnel mouth in bringing the express from the south to a stop prevented an accident, said Senior-Sergeant D. G. M. Simpson in the Lyttelton Magistrate’s Court yesterday. Sleeman, a waterside worker, was charged with obstructing the line. He pleaded guilty and Mr E. A. Lee, S.M., fined him £lO. Ben Matthews, a workman, was charged with unlawfully converting a car, the property of Michael Hutana, with failing to stop after an accident, with driving without lights, and with driving a car without a warrant of fitness. He pleaded guilty to all charges. On the first charge he was fined £lO. his licence was cancelled, and he was prohibited from obtaining one for a year. For failing to stop he was fined £2O. his licence was cancelled and an order was made prohibiting him from obtaining one for three years. The Magistrate also made an order that when Matthews next obtained a licence the two convictions were to be endorsed thereon. On the charge of driving without lights, he was fined £3 and on the charge of having no warrant of fitness, he was convicted and discharged. The owner of the car drove Matthews and two Korean seamen to an address in Dublin street and left him asleep in the car, said Senior-Sergeant Simpson. When he awoke, Matthews drove the car around the block. In doing so he hit a pedestrian, but did not stop. The radiator of the car was pushed in, so the defendant must have known that he had struck something. Rain was falling, and he had driven without lights. In other traffic cases, fines were imposed as follows: —Failing to yield right of way, William Wallace White, £5; parking on taxi stand, Henricus Bader, £2; no warrant of fitness, Neil George Hodges and William Robert Kiernan, each £l.