INTOXICATED DRIVER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19207, 22 December 1925, Page 14

INTOXICATED DRIVER.

i BUS GETS OUT OF CONTROL. SEVEN DAYS' IMPRISONMENT. A narrow escape by a bus-driver from being hurled over a bank from CookStreet on to some houses below had a sequel in tho Police Court yesterday, when a young man, whose name was ordered to jbo suppressed, admitted being drunk | while in charge of tho vehicle. I Senior-Sergeant Edwards said accused I was driving the bus back to his cmj plover's garage and had on board one ' passenger with whom he had been drinking in the afternoon. Travelling up the, grade in Cook Street accused attempted to change gear, but. the clutch slipped and the bus commenced to travel backward. Gaining speed it finally came to rest at the side of the road with the back wheels hanging over the bank. Ihe vehicle was prevented from going any further by the unueme.ith structure catching on tiie ground. Had it gone very little further is would have rolled on to the houses below the road level. "A constable who arrived on the. scene found accused very diunk," continued the i senior-sergeant. "1 saw him myself three hours after the occurrence, and he was still under the influence fibf liquor. He admitted he had been in three hotels during tho afternoon." Accused said he had driven buses for six years and had never had a conviction against him for drunkenness. The magistrate, Mr. Poynton, said it was serious for a man to be charged with drunkenness while in charge of a bus. Itwas' quite possible he could have placed a do;',en lives in jeopardy. Accused would be sentenced to seven days' imprisonment, but in view of his previous record his license would tie suspended for only three months.