DRIVER SUMMONS EXAMINER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23335, 29 October 1937, Page 20

DRIVER SUMMONS EXAMINER

SCHOOLBOY WHO FAILED IN TEST A public schoolboy, Robert F. A. Throckmorton, aged 17, of the Grange, Beccles, Suffolk, brought an unusual case under the Road Traffic Act, 1934, at the Police Court at Beccles (Suffolk) recently. He summoned Mr Richard Reeve Stammers, of Norwich, a driving examiner appointed by the Ministry of Transport, for failing properly to conduct a car-driving test at Lowestoft on August 27. The summons was dismissed, and Throckmorton was ordered to pay £. 5 9s costs. Throckmorton said that at the outset of the test he drove down a rather steep hill and was instructed by the examiner to turn right into a major road at the bottom of the hill. When he reached the foot of the hill a pedestrian standing on the major road signalled him on, and he continued at a speed which would have allowed him to pull up within a yard. The examiner made no comment on the incident, and the test continued for another quarter of an hour. He was, in fact, complimented by the examiner on the capable manner in which he handled the car, but was later told that he had failed because he did not stop at the bottom of the hill before entering the major road. Mr W. J. Boycott, for Throckmorton, explained that where an applicant failed in a driving test there was a provision that no further test could be undertaken for another calendar month, but the magistrates had power under section 6 of the Road Traffic Act, 1934, to shorten that period. It would be a matter of great convenience to his client and to his client's family if the period were shortened in this case. Throckmorton would be returning to school near Windsor about the middle of the month, and if the provision of the Act were allowed to remain in force he could not submit to another test before next Christmas. _ ~ . , , Mr R. S. Lewis, defending, pointed out that the magistrates were not concerned with the result of the test, but with the question whether it was properly carried out in accordance with the regulations. Mr Stammers said that he had been instructed to give every applicant the full period of the test, and had been told not to discuss with any examinee any breach of driving or any breach of the highway code during the test. It was not necessary for him to tell an applicant the reason why he or she had failed.