ROAD AS SPEED TRACK

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 40, 17 February 1939, Page 10

ROAD AS SPEED TRACK

A THREE-CAR RACE

TOTAL OF £42 IN FINES

(By Telegraph—Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. An amazing story of a race between three motor-cars around a block of streets in South Brighton was related to Mr. E. C. Levvey, S.M., by SeniorSergeant Felton in the Magistrate's Court this morning, when three motorists were each charged with dangerous driving, and amongst them were fined !£42.

Senior-Sergeant Felton, describing the race, said that witnesses were amazed at the display of crazy driving. The cars swerved around corners in shingle, veering right over to the wrong side, and at times turning on two wheels. Motorists in the vicinity were scared to move. The three men, who were represented by Mr. C. S. Thomas, were Douglas Ireland Wakeley, Patrick John Flood, and lan Ross Little. Quoting different witnesses, the ! Senior-Sergeant said that one described the cars' speed as terrific. Another said that he saw one car take a lefthand turn so fast that when he straightened up he was about four feet from the right-hsmd gutter, while another said he saw .one car travel for about thirty feet on two wheels after taking the corner. At length the cars stopped outside a house, continued the SeniorSergeant, and the drivers went inside. On getting out of his car one driver was observed to stumble and practically fall. Bolice and a traffic inspector called at the house later in the day, when they -found the men in a room which simply reeked with the smell of beer, but a man who, had been a passenger in one of the cars was the only one under the influence of liquor. "It all arose from an argument as to whether a small car could beat a large one around a short course," said Mr. Thomas. "The argument got I hotter during the day and in the end they decided to find out." • Mr. Thomas made a plea that, rather than cancel the men's licences, the Magistrate should make the fines heavier. Little's licence, in particular, was his livelihood. The Magistrate made Wakeley's penalty £10 and endorsement of his licence, and fined the others each '£16 and costs. •