Thursday, March 22, 2007

Mini Motorbike, Maxi Trouble

Man occasionally rides a mini-motorbike on waste land near his house. The bike is unregistered, and probably not street-legal. When he has had enough he starts to push the bike home - he lives about 50 yards away from the gateway to the land. A passing PC enquires if motorbike man has had a drink. He has. He fails a breath test, complaining loudly that he wasn't riding the bike, but only pushing it. He is arrested and blows 52 in the police station. At court he tells his tale of woe to the duty solicitor, who sadly explains that in law to push the bike is to drive it, and that it counts as a motor vehicle. He therefore has no defence to the charge. Guilty plea.
We kept the fine as low as decently possible, but we still had to ban him from driving for 12 months.
There is, I believe, case law that even a vehicle whose engine is in pieces on a bench can be 'driven'. So be careful. There is some sound advice here.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Posts are pre-moderated. Please bear with us if this takes a little time, but the number of bores and obsessives was getting out of hand, as were the fake comments advertising rubbish.