Justice?

Fined £5 for parking with lights on

A motorist was fined £5 at Crewe for parking his car with headlamps dipped because his sidelamps had failed. It was more expensive than not having any lamps alight—in the same court this cost a £3 fine.

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Lorry driver congratulated—then fined
A 26-year-old Macclesfield driver was fined, when his lorry laden with 10 tons of cement, ran away when its brakes failed. Instead of jumping from the cab the driver put on all his lights, sounded his horn and steered into a lamp standard. He was taken to hospital, unconscious. The police interviewed him there. In Court at Leek the Chairman of the Bench commended the driver for keeping his head “in very difficult circumstances”—and then fined him £2. We should add that the lorry was owned “by a very reputable firm” and tested every month. No-one was injured.

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Police driver lies after crash

Police seeking a hit-and-run car that left a motorcyclist it had hit lying injured in the road found that it belonged to a Detective-Sergeant, who had driven on and parked in a police station yard. When questioned, this officer at first stated that his wife was driving but later retracted this cowardly suggestion and admitted he was driving home from a police dance with another police officer and his wife. The fine was £15 for failing to stop, £5 for failing to report the accident. The reader who sent us the cutting remarks that he was fined £10 for passing a traffic island on the wrong side, while trying to negotiate a traffic blockage on his bicycle.

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Costs—but not guilty

A motorist defendant was found not guilty of a charge of dangerous driving in a Berkshire Court. The Magistrates ordered him to pay the costs of the entire case, although the major part of them related to a charge on which the driver was acquitted.

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Parking a danger—now there are meters!

Police in a London borough brought charges of obstruction against kerb-side parkers, saying that their cars were in the way of fire engines, ambulances and other essential services.

Now the area is a parking-meter zone and motorists are encouraged to stop there—providing they pay.