"It isn't a motorbike!"

Thursday 13 February 2020

A man has pleaded guilty to a crime he says he didn't commit "to get it over and done with" - and now he has to pay a £40 fine.

57-year-old Colin Help was arrested by Guernsey Police in May last year after he was seeing riding an electric scooter without wearing a motorbike helmet. He also didn't have any insurance, but that charge against him was dismissed.

However, he insists the bike he was riding at the time he was stopped is not a motorbike, and is actually classed as a pushbike and therefore he doesn't need insurance or a helmet to ride it on public roads. 

Pictured: File image of a bike similar to the one Colin Help was riding when he was stopped by Guernsey Police. 

Help, who lives in the Castel, was riding his 'City-boy electric scooter' along Les Rouvets Road in the Vale on 2 May, 2019, when he was stopped by Guernsey Police. 

They found he had no insurance - a charge which was later dropped, but they persisted with a charge of not wearing a helmet while on a public road.

Help denied the offence at five court appearances between July 2019 and November 2019, before finally pleading guilty during a sentencing hearing before Guernsey's Magistrate's Court yesterday.

He insisted he was not guilty of any crime though, as the bike he was riding is not a motorbike, and is not recognised as a motorbike by Guernsey's Driver and Vehicle Licensing office. 

He told the court he was pleading guilty to "get it over and done with" as he has lost out on hundreds of pounds worth of earnings through having to take time off work to attend court. He also claimed Guernsey Police have been harassing him by contacting him at home to ensure he turns up at court when he is due to appear.

Magistrate, Gary Perry told him he could plead not guilty and contest the charge if he wanted to but Help insisted he was "fed up of this" and wanted to plead guilty, saying "I own several motorbikes, and use them every day. I know the law and this isn't a motorbike which is why I didn't (plead guilty sooner)".

Allowing Help to plead guilty, despite continuing to protest his innocence, Magistrate Perry fined him £40.