FINE IMPOSED

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 29, 3 August 1939, Page 15

FINE IMPOSED

INTOXICATED DRIVER

A fine of £25, accompanied by cancellation of his licence for 18 months, was imposed upon Richard Herlihy, a carrier, aged 52, who appeared before Mr. J. L. Stout, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court today and pleaded guilty to beih*g intoxicated in charge of a truck.

Sub-Inspector D. J. O'Neill said that at 4.55 p.m. last Saturday Traffic Inspector Grifiiths, on duty in Adelaide Road, had his attention drawn to a truck being driven in a southerly direction by the accused. It was travelling in an erratic manner, and the inspector decided to follow it. Eventually it collided with the rear, of a small car which it was following, and almost as soon as it did so the inspector jumped on to the running board and steered the truck safely to the side of the road. The accused was under the influence of liquor, and a doctor who made an examination of him later,on said that he was not in a fit state to be in charge of a car. Nothing was known previously against the defendant. Counsel for Herlihy, Mr. J. A. Scott, called two witnesses who testified to his good character. The defendant had been driving vehicles for 30 years, said Mr. Scott, and had never had a charge of any nature preferred against him in that period. On the day in question he had delivered some coal and was -invited by the customer to have some port wine. He had two glasses, and subsequently went to a hotel where he consumed some more liquor. He had not had any liquor of any sort for four months past. Cancellation of the defendant's licence would mean a penalty of £5 a week for the defendant, as that was the award wage he would have to pay a man to drive the lorry. It was a difficult case, said the Magistrate, but he would take into account the age of the defendant in imposing the penalty-