Lok Tat Sang v. The Queen
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IN THE SUPREME COURT OF HONG KONG (APPELLATE JURISDICTION) CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 155 OF 1973 -----------------
----------------- Coram: Pickering, J. Date: 26 March 1973 ----------------------------- JUDGMENT ----------------------------- 1. This appellant in this case appeals against both conviction and sentence upon charge of driving a private car for hire or reward and driving the vehicle without third party insurance. On each charge he was fined $100, and in connection with the second, disqualified from driving all vehicles for the period of twelve months. He had previously a clear record. 2. The evidence in regard to the charge of driving for hire or reward was the familiar evidence of a policeman and a policewoman being picked up by the appellant in his car, taken to their destination and tendering money for the journey, which money was accepted by the appellant. 3. The charge of driving without third party insurance was not refuted by the production by the appellant of an insurance certificate which did not cover the carriage of passengers for hire or reward. There is no merit in the appeal against convictions and these appeals are dismissed. 4. The pecuniary fines imposed are entirely appropriate and do not justify any interference. It does transpire, however, that the appellant holds a licence for driving mini-buses, a fact unknown to the learned magistrate since the appellant said nothing in his own defence or in mitigation of sentece in the court below. This court has not infrequently said that where no certificate of insurance existed, it would be unlikely to interfere with a disqualification from driving all types of vehicles but that where such a certificate did exist but was defective in that it did not cover carriage for hire or reward other considerations might arise. Those considerations do in fact arise where the appellant is a professional driver or a person qualified to be employed professionally in driving types of vehicles other than the type associated with the offence. In such a case disqualification limited to the class of vehicles associated with the offence permits the appellant to continue to earn his living – as a driver of other classes of vehicle – in a legitimate manner. Total disqualification debars him from so doing and exposes both him and the community to the risk of more direct types of crime on his part. 5. With this consideration in mind, the appeal upon the second charge is allowed to the extent that the disqualification from holding or obtaining a licence to drive a motor vehicle for the period of twelve months, will be limited to private motor-cars. Appellant in person. Duckett, S.C.C. for Respondent. |