Sir , – One afternoon around about 1946 or ’47, I and two others were walking up Merrion Street towards the junction with Baggot Street/ Merrion Row, chatting away. One of my companions was walking on the footpath while wheeling his bicycle on the roadway. The other, who didn’t have a bicycle, was walking on the footpath inside me. I was between them wheeling my bicycle, perforce, on the footpath.
As we approached the junction, Garda Costello, who was the regular pointsman there, was just coming off duty. He approached us and informed me I was committing an offence under the Road Traffic Acts in proceding in charge of a pedal cycle on the footpath. He took my name and address and I was summonsed to the District Court, where I was fined half a crown (about 16c). Ah for the good old days when An Garda Siochana had the time and resources to ensure that unruly cyclists were held accountable to the law! Yours, etc,
PN CORISH,
Oaklands Drive,
Rathgar,
Dublin 6