Teenager banned from driving after town centre incident
A 19-year-old man has been banned from driving and must pay over £1,000 in fines and costs, for motoring offences in Bury St Edmunds town centre.
Charlie Palmer, of Shortingate Road, Thetford, appeared before Ipswich Magistrates’ Court (pictured above) on Thursday, May 8, where he was disqualified from driving for six months, fined £710, and ordered to pay costs and surcharges of £414 – making a total of £1,124 to be paid in total.
Palmer had been found guilty in his absence at a previous hearing on Tuesday, April 15, of the following two offences: driving without due care and attention and reversing a motor vehicle unnecessarily.
The incident occurred on Friday, August 23, 2024, when at approximately 12.30am CCTV operators spotted a black Audi A3 drive across the pedestrian area of Cornhill, seemingly in pursuit of two people on foot.
The Audi then contravened a one-way road sign in Brentgovel Street and then into Risbygate Street, where it came to a stop.
The car then reversed at speed back down Risbygate Street, before turning into St Andrews Street South.
With the offences captured on CCTV and the car’s registration number plate visible, a notice of intended prosecution was sent to Charlie Palmer as the registered owner of the vehicle, which required him to identify who was driving the car at the time of the incident.
Palmer identified himself as having been the driver and he was subsequently issued with a summons to court charged with the two offences.
He received nine penalty points for driving without due care and attention and as he already had three points on his licence – taking him to 12 penalty points – he became a “totter”, resulting in the six-month disqualification.
PC Luke WIlliams, of Bury St Edmunds Community Policing Team, said: “One of our local priorities has been to tackle anti-social and illegal use of vehicles in our town centre and so I am very pleased to see that the court has handed out appropriate penalties – resulting in Charlie Palmer being banned from the roads for six months.
“He drove without any care or consideration for other members of the public and I would hope the disqualification he now faces – along with the more than £1,000 he must pay – will act as a deterrent to others.
“Pedestrian zones are there for the safety of pedestrians.
“One-way streets are designated clearly and should be respected. To contravene traffic regulations in this way will not be tolerated and as Palmer has now discovered, offenders can expect to face consequences for their actions.”