SPEEDING CHARGE.

Waikato Times, Volume 108, Issue 18165, 1 November 1930, Page 8

SPEEDING CHARGE.

NUMBER PLATES REVERSED. (Special to the Times.) f HUNTLY, Friday... Before Mr Levien S.M. Sefton Young, a service , car driver, was charged with speeding at Ohinexvai on a recent date. As is usual in these cases the number of the plate is taken at the time and the driver or owner is baled before the Court. The registration papers in the Postal Department at Hamilton showed the Young’s number plates were 34-942 and another service driver had number 34-941. At the time the plates were taken out both drivers were running under the Owner Driver Service of passenger motors. Through some means the two sets of plates were reversed when placed on the cars, and Young’s car carried the other man’s plates and vtc:e versa. The post office officials at Hamilton have advised the Main Highways Inspector that the numbers quoted were allotted accordingly and that the numbers are the only legal ones allowed to he' placed on the respective machines. In issuing the plates an official of the department accidentally transposed the numbers on the receipts for the fees, with the resull that Young's car was the one to come under the inspector's notice, but as lie was not on the road that day and an examination of his plates confirmed his statement, the Magistrate had no option but to dismiss the charge, with costs £4 Is, against the Highways Board. Ilad the owner advised the trafflo inspector in reply to a communication the mix-up would not have taken but as the Magistrate stated: "I have no doubt be will be here next Court day.”

The Main Highways Board will probably be rc-imbursed by the Postal Department for the error, though it is understood that the latter department avers that its records are the only official documents and that the receipts given have no standing in the matter.