KEY POINTS:
A suspended motorist today had the brake put on his application for a limited licence to ride his Harley Davidson motor bike.
Company director Christopher Gambitsis of Papamoa, Tauranga, cited extreme hardship when he applied to Tauranga District Court for the licence to use his Audi car and Harley Davidson for work.
Gambitsis, 49-year-old director of Lake Chalice Wines Ltd, had his driver's licence suspended for three months from February 3 after accumulating more than 100 demerit points.
Judge Thomas Ingram was told that Gambitsis had to drive extensively on business and needed to be in Auckland regularly.
Police prosecutor David Pawson raised no objection to Gambitsis driving his car but objected strongly to use of the Harley Davidson coming under the privilege of a limited licence.
The bike was "clearly a recreational vehicle. It is not a workhorse", he told the judge.
Judge Ingram agreed granting a limited licence for use of the car but not the bike.
After the hearing, Mr Pawson said applications for limited licences were increasing and the "shopping list" of vehicles needed to be cut back.
He described some people as wanting access to "car buffets".
Occasionally suspended drivers were granted permission to use more than one work vehicle if necessary, but a schedule had to be approved by the court.
That, however, did not extend to using their own private cars outside of their employment.
Mr Pawson said he had never heard of any applicant getting a limited licence to use a motor cycle - let alone a Harley Davidson - as a second vehicle.
- NZPA
