Car becomes familiar to traffic officers

Press, 5 December 1986, Page 8

Car becomes familiar to traffic officers

By

JEFF HAMPTON

Christchurch traffic officers were astounded on Wednesday evening when the same Mark 111 Zephyr was involved in three separate drinkdrive incidents, with a different driver each time. In the last case, the Zephyr was finally immobilised when it ran off the road and struck a fence. The driver was suspected of driving under

the influence of alcohol and taken for tests, said the Chief Traffic Officer in Christchurch, Mr Ray Hall. The association between the Zephyr and traffic officers began at 5.15 p.m. At that time, it and a Mark IV Zephyr travelling in front were stopped by traffic officers. The driver of the Mark IV Zephyr failed an alcohol breath-screening test and was taken for further tests. The same happened to the driver of the Mark 111 Zephyr. Mr Hall said that the keys were taken from

both drivers. Traffic officers saw the same Mark 111 Zephyr being driven by a different person later in the evening. It was later determined that the car had been “hot-wired” to start. The woman driver was tested for alcohol and the car locked and left on the side of the road. A third person in the car was allegedly unlicensed to drive and said that he had no intention of doing so. He must have changed his mind as the car was later driven off the road and into a fence.