70-MILES-AN-HOUR CHASE

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 232, 29 June 1939, Page 6

70-MILES-AN-HOUR CHASE

Traffic Inspector And Motor-cyclist

A description of how he had chased a motor-cyclist along the Petone Esplanade on a Saturday afternoon at 70 miles an hour was given by Inspector J. Archer in the Magistrates’ Court, Petone, yesterday when three men were charged with breaches of the traffic regulations. The men were Malcolm Ruby, who was charged with exceeding the speed limit of 30 miles an hour and with riding a motor-cycle without a licence; Francis Stephen Mulholland, who was with exceeding the speed limit of 30 miles an hour; and Robert Summers, who was charged with riding a motor-cycle without a licence and in. a manner which might have been dangerous to the public and with failing to stop. Ruby was fined £1 on the first charge and £2 on the second; Mulholland was fined £2; and Summers was fined a total of £4 and had his licence suspended for two months. Inspector Archer said that on June 3 at 2.30 p.m. three motor-cyclists passed him on the Esplanade at a speed of 35 miles an hour. He gave chase and saw them passing traffic at 50 miles an hour. When he sounded his siren Ruby and Mulholland pulled in to the kerb but Summers increased his speed to more than 60 miles an hour. He eventually stopped Summers after being forced to do 70 miles an hour. Summers and the pillion rider at first said they had not heard the siren but finally said they were late for a football match.