Speeding fine for firefighters

John Oliver

Two firefighters have been convicted of speeding dangerously as they drove to an emergency in the Hawkes Bay.

Robert Michael Grayson, 21, and Nicholas Craig Jamieson, 19, both volunteers with Otane Volunteer Fire Brigade, missed their fire truck in an early-morning callout and decided to drive to the scene in their own vehicles.

A police constable and fellow Central Hawkes Bay volunteer fireman was on his way to the emergency when he spotted Grayson leaving Otane fire station with his hazard lights on at about 7.10am on December 13.

He sped past the local primary school at 120km/h before accelerating to 140km/h. The constable activated his police lights and tried to stop Grayson before seeing him overtake a vehicle on a blind corner.

Grayson later told police he had been so focused on the job at hand he had "forgotten his obligations as a road user".

During the incident, police also saw Jamieson speeding to the same callout. They estimated he had been travelling at more than 160km/h. He said he had been going at no more than 140km/h.

The men had been responding to reports of a car that had rolled near Elsthorpe.

Otane Chief Fire Officer John Oliver said the duo, who had been with the brigade for about eight months, had been told during training firemen didn't have a licence to travel as fast as they wanted.

"It's one of the basic things all trainees are taught," Mr Oliver said. "But it's a tough one. They're young guys and were just doing what they thought was best at the time."

The two would not face disciplinary action, he said. "They've already been punished in court."

Eastern Fire Region Commander Paul Baxter said police discretion applied only to emergency vehicles.

"Until such time they get into a fire engine and become firemen, they're bound by the same laws as other road users."

Baxter said the organisation's business was urgent by nature.

"But the service categorically does not condone what happened in this situation. We respond to bad situations - we don't want to create additional ones."

Grayson was convicted of dangerous driving and fined $500 and ordered to pay $130 court costs.

He was also disqualified from driving for four months.

Jamieson was convicted of careless driving and fined $350 with court costs of $130.

- HAWKE'S BAY TODAY