Tagged for dropping sweets

A motorcyclist has told how he was electronically tagged for four months and given a 36-hour community order – for dropping mint imperials while riding.

Thomas Payne, 19, must be at home from 8pm till 6am under the terms of his ankle tag after police spotted the trail of sweets left by his Yamaha DT175.

A police charge notice said he had ‘intentionally and without authority or reasonable cause, caused sweets to be on a road, namely Lancaster Circus, in such circumstances that it would have been obvious to a reasonable person that to do so would be dangerous’ contrary to the Road Traffic Act. 

Payne insists: “They were just falling out of my pocket. Because of the time they followed me for they said I should have known.”

Payne was stopped in Birmingham on March 16. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced at Birmingham Magistrates Court on March 24. He was ordered to pay £50 costs.

He said: “For a 19-year-old being housebound every night is hell.”

He must also spend three hours every Saturday taking part in group activities including woodwork classes until his community order is completed. “I count myself lucky I’m still allowed to eat sweets,” he said. 

West Midlands Police confirmed: “A man aged 19 was arrested on the March 16 in Lancaster Circus, Birmingham, on suspicion of endangering road users.

“He was charged on March 17 and appeared at Birmingham Magistrates Court on March 24.”

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