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Drive-by ogle costs R800 fine

<b>PEEP AT YOUR PERIL:</b> Keep your eyes on the road, as a British driver found out when he was fined R800 for ogling.
<b>PEEP AT YOUR PERIL:</b> Keep your eyes on the road, as a British driver found out when he was fined R800 for ogling.
LONDON, England – Seems it’s OK for a British bobby on patrol to get an eyeful of an attractive young woman but not for the ordinary guy who happens to be driving by.

Doug Maclean took his eyes off the road to appreciate the curves of the pedestrian and that landed him an R800 fine for “driving without due care and attention” after his quick check was caught on a police camera.

‘SHE WAS A CRACKER’


Maclean, 26, complained after the case: “Nicking another bloke for looking at a pretty girl is no way to earn a living. The girl was a cracker.

“She had a very nice backside and I wanted to check out her face to see if it was as nice as her figure. It’s what practically every bloke on the planet would do.”

He admitted, however, that the police camera shot showed him leaning over and staring out of the back window, having driven past the good-looking stranger – but he insisted he was in full control of his car.

“I saw a police car parked about 150m down the road,” he told the Mail, “but didn’t think anything of it. The road was empty and I was in complete control of my vehicle. I wasn’t leaning out of the window shouting and wolf-whistling.”

The patrol cops showed him the image from their in-car camera. “It was a really high-quality picture of me leaning across the seat of my vehicle,’ Maclean told the Mail. “They said my behaviour constituted driving without due care and attention.

“They told me that if I agreed I could have a fixed-penalty fine and would have to attend four hours of driving awareness courses or be summonsed and then get points on my licence, too. Of course, I took the fixed penalty and the driving course.

“Unless you’re wealthy and have the resources to challenge these things you just have to go with the flow.”

'COP HAD GOOD LOOK TOO’

Maclean, a gunsmith, told the Mail it was “a matter of opinion” whether his actions were dangerous: “I would argue that I can do two things at once - I’m an experienced driver. They would argue that they were keeping death off the road.”

He also claimed one of the policemen was distracted by the woman: “While they were doing the paperwork one of them, who seemed more human than the other, said something like “I had a good look at her too. She was a bit of a cracker”.

A Thames Valley police spokesman said: “We haven’t processed this penalty notice yet so we can’t comment but we would remind drivers that they have a duty not to be distracted by anything at all, not just gorgeous people, and so lose concentration while driving."
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