LOSS OF A LEG.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19146, 1 November 1927, Page 9

LOSS OF A LEG.

•♦ BIG CLAIM FOR DAMAGES. SEQUEL TO MOTOR ACCIDENT. (press association telegram.) WELLINGTON, October 81. In rain on the Hurt road la6t Christmas morning a black and white taxicab and a motor-cyclo driven by Thomas Vernon Anson and on which Phillip Ellis rode as a passenger collided. Both men were terribly injured, each losing a leg. To-day Mr Justice MacGregor and a jury heard Anson's claim for £IBO7 damages. Negligent and careless driving was alleged against the Black and White Cab Company's driver, who was stated to have been on his wrong side.

On Christmas Eve Anson and a friend (Ellis) had been in Wellington at a cabaret dance, said Mr T. C. Hislop. They had left the cabaret about midnight and had gone to a coffee stall for supper. They had then set out for their homes at Lower Hutt, Anson riding the motor-cycle and Ellis sitting on the carrier. 'As they passed Ngahauranga and approached Petone, at a spot opposite the Horokiwi road a Black and White taxi-cab coming from Petone suddenly crashed into them. The bicycle was thrown to the ground, and their knowledge of what had happened nearly ceased. Anson could remember crawling for some distance before he collapsed, having some recolleetion of the necessity of crawling off, the road to get out of the way ot traffic. Ellis had no recollection of what had-hap-pened until he woke up in hospital. Tho accident had been reported to the Petone Police Station, and Constable Macnamara had gone to the scene at about 2 o'clock. He had found some pieces of glass near the left-hand side of tho bitumen track, but could see little and could find no wheel marks because it was raining heavily. At 5 o'clock he had returned with a lorry to take away the cycle. It was then fine and dry, . and beside tho pieces of glass he had found ft nut, some small pieces of metal, and two deep cuts which appeared fresh in the bitumen. The action really" condensed into a question of whether or not the cycle had been on its Tight side, concluded counsel. Lengthy evidence for plaintiff was given. I The evidence for plaintiff was merely an ingenious attempt to reconstruct the accident, said Mr G. G. Watson, for the defence. The accident had been due to the pardonable but foolhardy conduct of the young men in rushing home on a wet night. The driver or the cab, who had a passenger on board, had been particularly careful, and, knowing the slippery nature of the bitumen, had driven with his left wheel off the bitumen 'strip on his correct side. They had been travelling at a moderate speed, having no incentive to hurry, when the bicycle light flashed in front of them like a projectile and the cycle crashed into them. So violent had been the impact that the mudguard'had been jammed down upon the tyre sufficiently hard to puncture it. The axle had been bent, and the steering gear strained. The accident had not taken.place at tho spot alleged. Tho car turned completely round to the right on one lock, which would have been an engineering impossibility had the collision occurred close to the left-hand edge of the bitumen. When the two young men were picked up both had been lying close to the right-hand edge of the road. Evidence for the defence was given before the Court adjourned until tomorrow.