Counsel Contradicts Transport Officer

Northern Advocate, 17 May 1949, Page 4

Counsel Contradicts Transport Officer

Straight contradiction of a Transport Department officer’s statement was made by counsel in the Whangarei Court yesterday. Prosecuting Ben Armstrong, of Pipiwai, on a charge of having carried on a passenger service at Takahiwai, Inspector G. Hunter said Armstrong had a motor car -in which he had been carrying passengers and aCccepting The most serious aspect was that there was a licensed taxi in the district and this was not economical because of Armstrong’s operations, while passengers he carried were not covered by insurance as they would be if he were a licensed taxi operator. For Armstrong Mr L. A. Johnson said the inspector had been wrong in his statements. He was confident that, if an accident had occurred, the passengers would have been able to claim against Armstrong under third-party risk. Neither was there another taxi service in the Pipiwai district. There was a car for private hire, w' ich was quite different from a taxi service. Armstrong intended applying for a taxi licence. He was fined £1 with 10/- costs by the magistrate (Mr W. C. Harley)-. Victor William Sextone was convicted and ordered to pay costs on a charge of having failed to keep a motor vehicle as far as practicable to the left of the roadway. Inspector Hunter said that Sextone had been travelling too fast round a corner on the wrong side and might have been involved in a serious accident.