Getting a ‘good eyeful’ of an attractive pedestrian is a temptation to which most male motorists have surely succumbed, but taking his eye off the road to steal a glance landed a young gunsmith with a 60-pound fine after his sneaky look was caught on police camera.
Officers said Doug Maclean was driving without due care and attention.
“Nicking another bloke for looking at a pretty girl is no way to earn a living,” the Daily mail quoted Maclean as complaining.
“The girl had a very nice backside and I wanted to check out her face to see if it was as nice as her figure. It’s what practically every bloke on the planet would do,” he said.
Maclean admitted that the photographic evidence shows him leaning over and staring out of the back window, having driven past the good-looking stranger – but he insists he was in full control of his car.
“I saw a police car parked about 150 yards down the road but , I didn’t think anything of it as the road was empty and I was in complete control of my vehicle as far as I was concerned. I wasn’t leaning out of the window shouting and wolf-whistling either,” he said.
Nevertheless, he attracted the attention of the officers stationed on the Ibstone Road at Stokenchurch, Buckinghamshire, who pulled him over and showed him the image they had taken from their dashboard camera.
“It was a really high-quality picture of me leaning across the seat of my vehicle.
“They said that my behaviour constituted driving without due care and attention.
“They told me that if I agreed, I could have a fixed penalty fine and would have to attend four hours of driving awareness courses. Otherwise I would be summonsed and then I’d get points on my licence too. Of course, I took the fixed penalty and the driving course.
“Unless you’re wealthy and have the resources to challenge these things you just have to go with the flow.
“The girl was a cracker, but it wasn’t worth getting a 60-pound fine for,” he said.
However, the 26-year-old claimed that it was ‘a matter of opinion’ whether his actions were dangerous.
“I would argue that I can do two things at once and am an experienced driver. They would argue that they’re keeping death off the road,” he said.
He added that the object of his attention ‘must have walked past while I was being reprimanded – though I wasn’t looking at her by then. If she realised what happened I expect she had a good laugh.’