NEGLIGENT DRIVING

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 77, 28 September 1933, Page 17

NEGLIGENT DRIVING

TAXI-DRIVER CONVICTED

UNUSUAL TYPE OF CASE

Interesting details- of. a,taxi ..that ran on to Petone 'Beach were given in the Petone Court yesterday, when Sydney James Potter was charged with negligently driving a taxi-cab. . Mr. J. S. Barton, who was on the bench, ccnvicted Potter, but deferred- fixing the penalty until tomorrow morning.

Mr. K. Hardie Boys appeared for the defendant, and Senior-Sergeant' C. E. Eoaeh prosecuted. . •■■■.' ;-

; Senior-Sergeant Eoaeh said that at 6.30 a.m. on August 8, Constable■■.ljfejNamara found a taxi on Petone Beach. ;Tho car had loft the Esplanade, :struck an electric light pole, and, gone on the sand. The. defendant had afresh abrasion on his forehead. Hq admitted having had liquor, and smelt strongly of it. Ho came to the police station, ;and said that another driver was in the car when it went over the Esplan,ade. . . :,.''.

George Pearson, an owner-driver, employed by the Black and White..Taxi Company, said that on the riightfi of August 7 he and Potter took' peqple lout in their ears to Eastbourne,?.and ;then back to tho Pipe Bridge. "He aririved back, in Wellington at 12:20 iiuti. :ou August 8, and left Potter and his iparty out. near the Pipe Bridge.; He jdid not drive-Potter's car. , •

! Robert Woods, a labourer, who lives at No. 213 Tho Esplanade, Pctone, said that about 5 a.m. on August 8 he found a man, whom he identified as the defendant, lying asleep in . the front seat of his car. There was no ono else in the car, which was facing the sea. The engine was running and all the lights were burning1. Ho woke the defenda-nt, who tried unsuccessfully to back Ills car out of tho sand, and witness advised him to go to a garage.

Constable H. MeNamara gave evidence as to finding the taxi on the beach. He examined the tracks, which showed that the taxi had been driven over a idne-meh kerbing, and then sevonty-eight feet along the. reserve until it hit an electric light pole; It was then backed out, and driven twenty-four feet until it went over the , sea wall. The car had evidently been travelling slowly along the resorve, for not much damage was done to the car or to the pole. When interviewed at 7 a.m. at the garage, the defendant !-aid he was the owner of the taxi, but a man named Pearson had driven it, and had rung him to say it was bogged at Pctonc.

Sonior-Sei'goant Boaeh said that the

defendant called at the police station at 8 a.m. on August 8 and said he had been asked by a constable to report an accident to his car. The ear was. bogged on the beach, and he had to get it pulled out. When asked how it had got there, the defendant said that- a man named Pearson had driven the car. "Potter's condition was such that anyone could see that ho had had a very heavy drinking bout," said Mxv Eoach. "He had a heavy abrasion on his forehead, and smelt strongly of liquor. He admitted having had a considerable amount of drink."

Mi1. Hardio Boys said that the question of drink had" clouded the issue. The defendant had driven a party out to Petono, and was found alone in the car the following morning in' a. condition from which the inference muefc bo. drawn that shortly, before he had apparently been in. no fit condition to drive a ear, and someone in the party had driven the car on to the. beach. Mr. Hardie Boys submitted there was no evidence that his- client had ''driven-. a car negligently. That Pearson and. Potter were together the previous evening was not relevant, nor was the fact that Potter had been- drinking relevant to the charge of driving. •"' •■ '. ' : -■-,■■ :.[^'-'"'" : '■;■.'': Mi\ Barton said the defendant was in charge of the car up till midnight, and it was his responsibility, to > get it back '.to- Wellington;- Between '4 ;and 5 a.m. the defendant was f onM - asleep in his: car, which had the, lights turned on and the engine' running. ' When called on at 8 a,m. to give an explanation, the defendant gave .one that- was proved to be untrue.,, The' traces of the ,car?s progress were consistent with those: of drunken driving, and vat 8' a.m. the' defendant wasvobviously- suffering a recovery from a drinking bpuC With regard to counsel's, .contention that evideneo that Potter and Pearson wore together the p?eviou,s evening was not relevant, Mr. Barton said the case was an unusual one, and in the circumstances the evidence ou that point was a useful starting place in tho case. Counsel for the defendant had said that his client, was, so. drunk that, he could, not have .been driving, but the tracks of the ear were those of a^ drunken, driver. A conviction was entered, and the fixing of a penalty: deferred.