RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31004, 9 March 1966, Page 28

RANDOM REMINDER

INCIDENT AFTER DARK

It is pleasant to be able to show the other side of the coin in relation to our relations’ relations with the relatively unpopular traffic department of the City Council. Perhaps the other side of the coin is an unhappy phrase these days: at all events this brief report will show that beneath those bulging parking-offence-laden pockets beat hearts of gold. They were driving at night, and, they later confessed, had committed a breach or two of the traffic laws. Forgetfully, they had turned right at an intersection at which the practice was forbidden: and they had then proceeded at a speed somewhat, if not grossly, in excess of the permitted 30

miles an hour. But they are not, in this sort of context, habitual criminals and they were quite unready for the arrival of a traffic officer on a motorcycle about a yard from the driver’s right elbow. He later admitted that as soon as he saw the officer wildly improbable excuses flashed through his mind—he was chasing a bank robber, then taking his sick wife to hospital, or hastening to a highlevel diplomatic conference. He regretted his dissimilarity to James Bond. But he was left, at the end, with the realisation that he would have to make a full confession. He pulled up the car and the window. The traffic officer spoke. “Your

radiator' ’he said “is boiling.” And from his friendly and relaxed tones, it might have been the kettle, and he had called for a cup of tea. A hiss of relief escaped, from the driver. "Is it?" he answered in the tones of wonder one might have expected had he been told that the Great Sphinx had somehow been dumped on the Main North Road The officer said there was a service station just along the street, and that there would be water there. More than that. He set off on his machine to fetch it. While Jack, the dill, had been expecting vinegar, and brown paper. He feels now he would like to start • traffic officers’ fan club.