Police v THOMPSON

In the case of Police v Thompson, the appellant, the Police, sought to appeal the acquittal of the respondent, Thompson, on a charge of driving while having the prescribed concentration of alcohol in his blood. The central issue at trial was whether Thompson had been deprived of control of the vehicle by reason of the accelerator "sticking" and was therefore not driving at the relevant time. The respondent claimed that the vehicle took off on him unexpectedly, and he did not have time to apply the brakes before it left his property and crossed the road. The magistrate acquitted Thompson, and this is an appeal from that decision.

The legal issues that the court was required to decide were whether Thompson had been driving the vehicle when it moved, and if so, whether he had control over the vehicle despite the mechanical defect. The court needed to determine whether the motion of the vehicle was caused by Thompson's voluntary acts, despite the mechanical issue. The court also needed to consider the meaning of "driving" as used in s 47B Road Traffic Act, including voluntariness in the context of driving, and the relevance of a mechanical defect in the car.

The court, in allowing the appeal, held that the magistrate must have misapplied the correct principle in reaching the conclusion that Thompson did not have control of the vehicle. The court considered that the discussion of voluntariness obscured the real issue. The court held that had the magistrate applied the true principle, they would have found that Thompson was sufficiently in control of the operation of the vehicle, throughout its short journey, to be driving it, both as the Road Traffic Act employs that word and as a matter of common usage. The court considered it appropriate to quash the magistrate's order dismissing the complaint and, in its place, to record a conviction. The court remitted the matter to the magistrate for further hearing as to penalty.

The final orders were: (1) allow the appeal; (2) set aside the judgment of acquittal, the order dismissing the complaint, and the order as to costs; (3) substitute for the order dismissing the complaint an order that a conviction be recorded; and (4) remit the matter to the magistrate for further hearing in respect of penalty. The court shall hear the parties as to costs.