BISHOP FINED

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 316, 1 September 1932, Page 7

BISHOP FINED

WAS NOT COLLOQUIAL IN ARGUING WITH TRAFFIC COPS. Dr. Cyril Golding-Bird, assistant Bishop of Guildford, was fined £10 and his driving license suspended for three months at Farnham, Surrey, recently, for driving his car in a dangerous manner at Fresham. He was ordered to pay the costs and was fined 10/- for failing to sign his driving license. Notice of appeal was given. P.C. Forehead said that while going up a hill the bishop drew out and tricd to pass a line of traffic in which was a police patrol van. When stopped and told he would be reported for dangerous driving the bishop replied: "I know your chief constable. I shall he with' him this afternoon, and I shall report you for being rude. I should not have rninded if you had been doing your duty. Are you a speed-cop? The bishop produced his license in such a manner that he (the constable) could not see if it was in order. The bishop said: "Look sharp. You don't want full particulars. I am th'e bishop; that is sufficient. It's your word against mine, and II expect mine will be taken." P.C. Forehead said it was the worst piece of driving he had seen for many years. Dr. ' Golding-Bird told the Bench that he was not sufiiciently colloquial to use such a term as "speed-cop.'* The police adopted an extraordinary truculent manner, and he reported it to the Chief Constable. He did not know at first that it was a police van, and he could have passed if the driver had not also accelerated and eventually passed him on.the wrong side.