‘WE SHAN’T COME HERE AGAIN, WE’LL GO ELSEWHERE...’
Furious pensioner’s pledge as he claims police officer asked if he could read and then called him ‘sunny Jim’
A PENSIONER who was fined for driving in a pedestrianised street says he was disgusted by the way a police officer spoke to him.
Stuart Belfield mistakenly drove into High Street in Stone while heading to the chemist for his poorly wife.
The 77-year-old was under the impression traffic was only prohibited from using the road between 10am and 4pm, after he misread the signs.
But Mr Belfield was stopped by an officer who he says treated him ‘very badly’, despite his explanation.
The Sentinel reported last week that police were issuing fines to any drivers and cyclists caught wrongly travelling along the High Street in a bid to tackle motorists who persistently break the rules.
The only exemptions apply to emergency services vehicles, any loading and unloading that cannot be carried by hand between 4pm and 10am, and postal or cash-in transit vehicles.
Mr Belfield, who lives in Trentham with his wife Linda, said: “We had been for a coffee at Joule’s on the canal.
“My wife has leukaemia and can’t walk very far.
“She wanted to go to the chemist so I drove into High Street. I saw the signs and I thought it said no entry between 10am and 4pm, and it was about 4.50pm so I though it was okay. I wasn’t knowingly flouting the rules.
“I was treated very badly by an officer. He stopped me and said, ‘Can’t you read?’ He addressed me in a very unprofessional way and when I pointed this out to him, he said, ‘Don’t you get cocky with me, sunny Jim’. I couldn’t believe it.
“I explained that my wife has leukaemia and can’t walk very far – not that that’s an excuse, just to explain why we were driving there. He wasn’t interested.”
Mr Belfield paid the £50 penalty notice the day after the incident, which happened on April 26.
He said: “I know I was wrong and I shouldn’t have done it, but I didn’t know. I couldn’t believe he didn’t just give me a warning when I explained.
“I felt absolutely terrible afterwards. Somebody needs to tell him how to talk to people. I put in an online complaint about it and someone did get back to me and said they couldn’t believe how I was spoken to.
“I won’t be going to Stone again, we’ll find somewhere else to go.”
Chief Inspector Giles Parsons, from Staffordshire Police, said: “We are urging drivers to avoid using High Street, Stone, which is closed to vehicles other than those loading and unloading. A public space protection order is in place along the road and, if you’re found to be driving along the street in breach of the order, you risk being fined. ”
Stafford Borough Council cabinet member for communities Jeremy Pert said: “We said that we would take enforcement action if this continued, and this is what we are now doing.”