MOTORIST CHASED ROUND RICCARTON.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19201, 15 October 1930, Page 9

MOTORIST CHASED ROUND RICCARTON.

GAINED ON INSPECTOR AND WOULD NOT STOP.

In spite of the fact that a traffic inspector who was chasing him was travelling at fifty-five miles an hour, Thomas John Firth continued to forge ahead. The chase, however, cost him £ll Is.

Firth, who lives at 41S, Main Road, Karori, Wellington, was prosecuted by the Riccarton Borough Council before Messrs IX Jackson and J. Voss, Justices of the Peace, this morning. He did not appear, and was fined £3 on each of two charges of dangerous driving and £2 on a charge of failing to stop and give his name and address when called upon by a traffic inspector. The costs in the cases amounted to £3 Is.

“The next time he comes along he will know Riccarton Road,” was Mi Jackson’s comment, referring to defendant’s statement to the inspector that he did not know the road.

Mr Champion, appearing for the Borough Council, said that Firth’s speed was excessive. The inspector followed him along Riccarton Road and headed him off, but when he got out the defendant started off in the opposite direction at a speed worse than before. Furthermore, he used abusive language rather than give any information. Could Not Catch Him.

Inspector K. Thomson said that at 6.5 p.m. on September 11 he saw a car going at an estimated speed of fiftymiles an hour. He chased it along Riccarton Road to the railway crossing, over which defendant went at thirtyfive miles an hour. Witness drew alongside and called to him to stop, but the driver immediately shouted “Go to Witness drove in front of the car, which stopped, but later started when witness got out to speak to the driver. Witness re-started and followed defendant along Mandeville Street The pursuing car was travelling from fifty to fifty-five miles an hour, but the car ahead kept on gaining. As it could not be caught, the chase was aban doned. At 8.45 p.m. witness found the offending car in the Square. The driver gave his name, but denied being in Riccarton Road, and said he did not know it. Later, however, he said he might have been driving there at the time.