Two Appeals Dismissed

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31042, 23 April 1966, Page 24

Two Appeals Dismissed

A man who double-parked for 12 minutes outside the United Service Hotel on a Friday evening was being unreasonable, said Mr Justice Wilson in the Supreme Court yesterday. His Honour was dismissing an appeal by John Graham Burt, an engineer, against his conviction and fine of £7 for parking without reasonable consideration for other road users.

Burt had conducted his own defence to the charge in the Magistrate’s Court, where there was dispute about the time he had parked. A constable gave evidence that Burt’s car was double-parked for 12 minutes, whereas Burt said he was parked for only two or three minutes while making a purchase in a tobacconist's shop. For Burt, Mr R. G. Blunt submitted that, in case of clear conflict, the evidence of the constable should not have been taken in preference to that of Burt. His Honour said that the magistrate had seen the witness and heard their evidence. “On a matter of that

I sort, I cannot challenge the magistrate's right to prefer the evidence of one witness against another,” he said. Although Burt’s car had not been left unattended—his mother was in the car—it was not reasonable to be so parked for 12 minutes that other drivers could not pull out from the kerb, and would be put to the inconvenience of seeking Burt out, his Honour said. Accordingly, the appeal was dismissed, without Mr N. R. Morgan (for the Crown) being called on. Under Influence An appeal by Charles Grieve Ball, aged 60, a tally clerk, against a conviction for driving under the influence of drink or drugs at Lyttelton on February 26, was also dismissed. For Ball, Mr J. R. Woodward .submitted that the magistrate had been manifestly wrong in setting up lay witnesses against the evidence of a doctor, who had said Ball was fit to drive. But his Honour pointed out that the doctor had hesitated to say I he would have liked to drive i with Ball.