MOTORIST FINED £10

Southland Times, Issue 24163, 27 June 1940, Page 8

MOTORIST FINED £10

INTOXICATED WHILE DRIVING NO LICENCE FOR 12 MONTHS • Convicted of being in a state of intoxication while in charge of a motorcar at WalJacetown on Saturday evening, Harold Peter John Scott, aged 23, was fined £lO and disqualified from holding a driver’s licence for 12 months.

The case was heard in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday. The defendant, who was not represented by counsel, pleaded not guilty. Senior-Sergeant Kelly said the defendant was arrested in Steel’s road at 6.30 p.m. on Saturday. Traffic Inspector J. C. Edwards said he saw the defendant’s car travelling at a high speed. It passed his car without the lights on and turned into Steel’s road. He followed the car, which was on the incorrect side of the road, and stopped it. In answer to a question the defendant said he. had been to a hotel and had had five drinks. The witness said that he put the defendant through tests and noticed that his speech was thick and he walked unsteadily. When being taken into the police station the defendant lurched forward in the car.

Dr W. J. Barclay, who examined the defendant at the police station, said that his pulse was rapid and his speech was thick, but that there was nothing much to which exception could be taken. The defendant’s co-ordination was quite fair and he had come to the conclusion that he was not unfit to drive a car.

The defendant said he had gone to the hotel about 3 o’clock. He had five drinks and then went for a walk along the road. When he went back to the hotel he waited for about an hour for his mates, but had nothing to drink. “I did not exceed the speed limit at any time,” he added, “and when the inspector stopped me I was not on the wrong side of the road.” To Senior-Sergeant Kelly: I had no drinks between 6 and 6.15 o’clock.

The Magistrate: Do you ask the Court to believe that?—Yes.

Senior-Sergeant Kelly told the Court that the defendant had recently enlisted and he was waiting to be called up for service. The Magistrate: I am satisfied you were not fit to drive a car when the inspector saw you. Enlistment doesn’t give a man the right to get intoxicated and become a danger on the highway. You apparently got to the stage when you thought you could drive anywhere on the road. The defendant was fined £lO and he was disqualified from holding a driver’s licence for 12 months. He was ordered to pay expenses £l/12/6.