LORRY STRIKES SHEEP

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23040, 18 May 1938, Page 19

LORRY STRIKES SHEEP

DAMAGES CLAIM SUCCEEDS ACCIDENT NEAR HAMILTON [from our otx correspondent] HAMILTON, Tuesday An action arising out of injuries received by sheep when they were run into by a, motor-truck at Te Papa on December 22 was heard by Mr. S. L. Paterson, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court to-day. Plaintiff was Shattock's, Limited, which claimed £2 10s 6d damages from the Felton Waikato Transport Company, one of whose trucks was involved in the accident. On the plaintiff's behalf, Mr. W. P. Gray said that early on the morning of December 22 about four or five hundred sheen were being driven out of an accommodation paddock, near the Te Papa racecourse, on to the main south road whim a lorry, driven by one of defendant's drivers, approached from the direction of Auckland. The drover had noticed the lorry several hundred yards down thu road, and again when it was 15 yards from the mob. The vehicle failed to stop, said counsel, and crashed into the sheep, killing three and severely injuring eight. Later three of the injured animals died, while a further three were condemned at the works. Among those animals were some owned by plaintiff. Thomas Charles Henry Scott, driver of the truck, said that there was a fairly heavy fog at the time. He had his lights on and the windscreen wiper going. Witness said he had just passed a lorry coming from Hamilton, when the sheep came out suddenly from the gateway on to the roadway. He immediatelv applied his brakes and pulled up in the length ! of his truck. ''The lorry driven by defendant's driver ran into the sheep when he could and should have seen them," said Mr. Paterson. in giving judgment for the plaintiff. "The storv told bv thp driver is so ridiculous that it would be difficult to find anyone foolish enough to believe it." Defendant was ordered to pay costs.