The teenager was on his phone, driving erratically, with a police car behind him.
He was pulled over. The police officer approached, mentally listing all the road rules he had just witnessed being broken. It was his speciality to pull over wrongens. Today was his lucky day. This particular offender first came to his notice when he pulled out from a side street onto the main road without signalling. He drifted around in his lane. He then crossed lanes without signalling causing a vehicle to break heavily to avoid a collision. He failed to slow down through a school zone. He had continued in the same lane for some time driving much too close to the vehicle in front. As he entered the town, he didn’t slow down, ignoring the speed limit. As he drove through the town he failed to stop when people were stepping on to a pedestrian crossing.
Finally, he didn’t yield to an ambulance that was trying to enter the road.
With both vehicles stationary, the officer carried out a registration check on the vehicle, establishing that it was both stolen and unlicensed. He got out of the police car and was feeling pretty chuffed about catching this particular wrongdoer. As he approached the culprit, he was surprised to find him still holding a half full bottle of beer. Burping, he wound down the window. As he did this the policeman noted several track marks on his arm. When questioned about them, the youngster readily admitted that he had recently shot up with heroin. It was quickly established that he was driving without a valid licence, driving while disqualified and knowingly driving a vehicle that was stolen and uninsured.
Much to his private annoyance, he had to admit that in the main, the young lawbreaker had been extremely polite and considerate while the officer had pointed out all of the offences he had committed. However, matters improved for the officer considerably when he looked more closely at the obviously false driver’s licence and saw that the photo showed the boy as being somewhere between sixty and seventy, with the date telling him that it was taken six years ago.
It was fittingly gratifying for the officer that when he was questioned about it, the boy said he’d recently had a face lift!