Magistrate’s Court Disqualification Extended For Year, Fine Of £15

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30803, 15 July 1965, Page 8

Magistrate’s Court Disqualification Extended For Year, Fine Of £15

“This ia one of the worst cases I have had to deal with. It is a shocking example of letting someone who is totally unprepared and illequipped have a provisional licence to ride a motor-cycle,” Mr K. H. J. Headifen, S.M., told Gary Jeffrey Anderson, aged 18, a floor sander (Mr G. R. Joyce), in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

Anderson, who pleaded not guilty to a charge of driving at a speed which might have been dangerous in Riccarton avenue on March 30, was convicted and fined £l5, and his licence was cancelled for one year. The period of disqualification will begin on May 21, 1968, when a period of disqualification previously imposed upon Anderson will expire.

Traffic Officer J. E. S. Drain said that at 8.25 p.m. on March 30 he saw two motorcyclists travelling away from the city in Oxford terrace at a speed exceeding 30 miles an hour. He followed them on his motor-cycle to the traffic lights outside the Christchurch Hospital, where they had to stop for the red light. When the light changed, the motor-cycles accelerated at high speed, and turned into Riccarton avenue, - crossing the pedestrian crossing outside the hospital at 40 to 45 miles an hour. In Riccarton avenue, at a speed between 65 and 70 miles an hour, he began to gain slightly on the two, whose speed on the approach to the roundabout at the Riccarton road intersection was about 40 miles an hour.

Just before the roundabout, the two motor-cyclists attempted to overtake, on the right, a car which was travelling into the roundabout in the right-hand lane. They realised they could not do it, so they braked hard and passed the car on the left while it was travelling around the roundabout, said Traffic Officer Drain.

The motor-cyclists travelled about three-quarters of the length of Riccarton avenue on the incorrect side of the road. When stopped at the roundabout, Anderson was found to have obtained only that day a provisional licence to ride a motor-cycle. The holder of such a licence was restricted to a speed of 30 miles an hour at all times, said the traffic officer. Anderson said" in evidence that he did not think that his speed was excessive. He was on the correct side of the road nearly all the way along Riccarton avenue. The Magistrate said that because Anderson was already disqualified and was under the supervision of the probation service, the penalty would be decreased. “If you had not been already disqualified, I would have taken away your licence for three years at least,” said the Magistrate. CARELESS USE Charged with careless use of a vehicle in Wainoni road on March 31 and failing to remove glass from the road on the same date, John Russell Barrett, aged 38, a foreman (Mr H. W. Thompson), pleaded not guilty. He was convicted and fined £2 on the charge of careless use, and was ordered to pay costs on the other charge. The charges were partly heard on Tuesday. Robert Grant Munford said that about 10.45 p.m. on March 31 he heard a crash outside his house in Wainoni road, and found that the defendant’s car had hit the back of a logging truck parked opposite. A red warning light had been hung on the rear of the truck. Barrett said that he did not see the truck or the warning light as he approached. He had seen the truck parked in Wainoni road before, but it was not always in the same place. There were no street lights near the truck. (Before Mr J. D. Kinder, S.M.) FINED £7 Carl Antonius Krijt, a supervisor, was fined £5 on a charge of failing to stop at a stop sign and £2 for exceeding 30 miles an hour at Belfast on May 16. He pleaded not guilty to both charges and conducted his own defence. FINED £4 Mark Doyle, a barman, was fined £3 on a charge of failing to produce his driver’s licence and £1 for having no warrant of fitness on March 9. He pleaded not guilty to

both charges and conducted his own defence. (Before Messrs P. A. Le Brun and G. W. Fairweather, Justices of the Peace.) COMMITTED FOR TRIAL A man, whose name was suppressed, was committed for trial in the Supreme Court on a charge of unlawfully using an instrument with intent to procure a miscarriage on June 24. He pleaded not guilty, and was represented by Mr B. McClelland. The accused was granted bail. (Before Mr E. A. Lee, S.M.) CARELESS USE Charged with careless use of a vehicle on the Main South road at Islington on March 13, Gordon William Morris, a motor mechanic (Mr R. J. de Goldi), pleaded not guilty. He was convicted and fined £5.