A former All Black has agreed to pay a driving infringement fine for overtaking on the left after unsuccessfully defending himself in court.
Grahame Thorne (69), of Queenstown, appeared in the Queenstown District Court yesterday to challenge the validity of an infringement notice he received after being stopped by a senior police detective near the resort in February.
Thorne told Judge Bernadette Farnan the matter was only before the court because of a ''comedy of errors'' by police.
He had decided to challenge the notice because it was sent in an incorrectly addressed envelope.
If it had not been delivered, he would have been facing a further penalty for failing to appear in court, and that had ''got up my nose'', he said.
Giving evidence, Detective Sergeant Brian Cameron said he was driving towards the resort on State Highway 6 on February 23 about 8am when he saw the defendant's car overtake at least two cars on their left-hand side on the approach to the Glenda Dr intersection.
When he stopped the car, the defendant told him he ''didn't realise I couldn't do it'' and that he was running late for an appointment at a VTNZ testing station.
Although the vehicle's warrant of fitness and registration had expired, Det Sgt Cameron decided to warn the defendant about those matters because he was on his way to the testing station.
After briefly cross-examining Det Sgt Cameron, Thorne said he now realised he had misunderstood their conversation on the day in question.
He had wrongly thought he was issued the infringement notice for overtaking the detective's car on the left-hand side.
Judge Farnan found the infringement notice offence to be proven, and ordered Thorne to pay the $150 infringement fee and $30 court costs.
