An Australian woman in high-heels has blamed a slip of the foot for travelling at more than twice the limit in her mum's BMW. Police nabbed the 20-year-old doing 112km/h in a 50km/h zone in Melbourne, the Herald Sun reports. She was fined $500, lost her licence for 12 months and had to tell her mother her BMW coupe had been impounded for 48 hours under Victoria's anti-hoon laws.
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A US report reveals that insurance companies now deny health insurance to babies above the 95th per centile for height or weight, effectively considering their size a "pre-existing condition". The Denver Post says the parents of 4-month-old Alex Lange were denied coverage because he's in the 99th per centile for infant weight and therefore obese. "I could understand if we could control what he's eating. But he's 4 months old. He's breast-feeding. We can't put him on the Atkins diet or on a treadmill," said frustrated father Bernie Lange.
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On police response times, a reader writes: "I complained to the police five weeks ago about theft by an employee of between $30,000 and $50,000. I handed over a large paper trail and still have irrefutable video footage of the theft from our security camera.
I have received two emails telling me the police are busy and will get to it, but they don't know when. I arrived home last Thursday to be told two uniformed police officers, one of whom lives just around the corner, had earlier turned up to tell me my son was seen driving to the dairy with someone else in the car. (He is on a restricted licence.) I was told next time this officer spies my son doing anything he'll be 'taken to the police station and have the book thrown at him'. One question is: can someone be issued a ticket on an off-duty policeman's say-so, for something that happened, by the policeman's admission, 'a couple of days ago'."
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"Perhaps you would like to deliver a biology lesson to the grey-bearded, redneck chap driving a blue hatchback along Te Atatu Rd on Monday," writes Lois. "Female dogs squat to pee and if he had used his eyes instead of his mouth as he hurled abuse at me, he may have noticed that I carry a roll of poo bags and I use them religiously."
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Response to road spittle: To "Ace Ventura", the driver of the brown Nissan Sunny. I think you "like me" because not a few droplets of the spit you expectorated on Carbine Rd - as our cars turned from Pakuranga motorway this morning - landed on my windscreen. As well as being vulgar and rude, remember spitting can spread disease."
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