Motorbike or e-bike? Disqualified driver Peter Rolton found out the hard way when he was seen doing burnouts on a Sur-Ron electric motorbike, similar to the one pictured here. Photo / Black Sheep Trading
Motorbike or e-bike? Disqualified driver Peter Rolton found out the hard way when he was seen doing burnouts on a Sur-Ron electric motorbike, similar to the one pictured here. Photo / Black Sheep Trading
A disqualified driver who has failed to get his licence back, despite repeated attempts over the past 20 years, has found out the hard way that the bike he was caught doing burnouts on in town didn’t pass as an e-bike.
Peter Rolton has since learned that not only did he need a current driver’s licence to ride the particular Sur-Ron electric motorbike in town, but it needed to be registered.
Following a long history of driving offences leading to his indefinite disqualification, the 41-year-old was back in court this week, having caught the police’s attention last July with his post-midnight riding in central Nelson.
Things unravelled further up until last December when the police saw him riding the same bike out of a supermarket carpark.
He appeared this week for sentencing, having earlier admitted three separate charges of driving while disqualified on a third or subsequent time, and two charges of operating a motor vehicle causing sustained loss of traction.
“He didn’t know it was a vehicle,” his lawyer Tony Bamford said, adding that Rolton had unfortunately put himself in the position in which he now found himself.
Sentencing was adjourned for the court to seek more information.
A Sur-Ron electric motorbike similar to this one was used by a disqualified driver who was caught doing burnouts in central Nelson. Photo / Black Sheep Trading
He was close to breaking down in court when a judge decided to take a different route in the hope of getting to the bottom of what was behind his difficulties, rather than impose what might have been community detention.
“You have been trying hard yet here you are again and that makes me sad,” Judge Jo Rielly told Rolton as he stood sniffing quietly in the dock of the Nelson District Court.
Rolton had been sentenced to periods of disqualification 10 times between 1999 and 2019, the police summary of facts showed.
He was disqualified indefinitely in 2001 but has since been convicted of driving while disqualified a further four times, the latest until now in 2019.
In October 2018 he was also convicted on a charge of driving with excess breath alcohol on a third or subsequent time.
At around 12.30am on July 24, 2022, Rolton was riding the unregistered Sur-Ron electric bike through an area of busy nightclubs in central Nelson.
The police saw him stop at a traffic light, and then hold the bike as he accelerated which caused the rear wheel to spin for 10 seconds, causing a cloud of smoke from the tyre.
He then rode off and a short way down the road did another burnout, this time for 16 seconds, creating another large cloud of smoke.
The police approached on foot and signalled him to stop, but he ignored the request and turned into a nearby carpark on the wrong side of the road.
When the police finally caught up with Rolton he told them he wasn’t aware of any regulations over his particular motorbike.
Not only did he need a licence to ride it, but the bike needed to be registered, which it wasn’t.
A spokesperson for Christchurch-based Black Sheep Trading, which deals in e-bikes, scooters and the Sur-Ron electric motorbike, told NZME there are road-legal versions of the bike, meaning they can be ridden on the road but operators still needed to follow all laws.
Only motorised bikes below 300 watts did not require a licence.
The road-legal Sur-Ron was a moped-class bike with a 3500-watt motor.
On the night of August 6 last year Rolton was again riding the bike through central Nelson. Police spoke to him when he parked it on the footpath, then walked the bike out of the area.
Just before 5pm on December 13, Rolton was seen by an off-duty police officer pulling into a supermarket carpark on the unregistered bike.
CCTV footage then showed him driving on a nearby street. He declined to comment when the police caught up with him.
The court heard this week Rolton had struggled to get his licence back over the past 20 years.
Judge Rielly said it seemed that he had now admitted his problems, which were not detailed, and had been open about what he was suffering, which had never been diagnosed.
“If he could fix that, then everything else might fall into place,” Judge Rielly suggested.
She said despite earlier assessments and attempts to access help, Rolton needed to take further steps for himself to access more meaningful help.
