Early drink driving case
A “usually sober and reliable” husband and father landed himself in court 100 years ago after a car journey saw him narrowly escape a charge of manslaughter in one of Jersey’s early drink driving cases.
Error of judgment
On 11 December 1925, Archibald Harold Picot (21) made a grave error of judgment when he got behind the wheel of his motorcar after a couple of drinks in Town. In this state of “intemperance”, he crashed into a stationary car, then a wall and seriously injured his passenger.
Newspaper reports and archive records of the ensuing court case reveal that Picot had visited The Red Lamp in Peter Street, where he met Evelyn Mary Driscoll, nee Haycock, wife of Walter John. She said she was going to First Tower and soon after, Picot passed her in the street and offered to give her a lift. Another account suggested that Grève de Lecq was the final destination.
At around lunchtime, Picot was driving towards St Peter’s Valley, with Driscoll as a passenger next to him. He overtook Philip Coutanche, who was driving his horse and cart near the house Mainland. Coutanche told the court that Picot was driving at a “furious rate”.
Just afterwards, Picot lost control of his vehicle and scraped the garden wall at ‘Mainland’ before crashing into Henry Frank Bartlett’s stationary car, which was on the other side of the road. When Bartlett came to examine the scene, Picot was attempting to push his car back into place.
Picot told Bartlett that he had struck his car and was willing to pay for any damage that he had done. Bartlett thought Picot was in an unfit state to drive and told him that he was going to call the police, but Picot asked for compassion for his wife and child.
Back to town
Bartlett turned to another witness, Cecil Poole, and asked if he thought Picot should be driving. At that, Picot was reported to have said: “I have had a couple of drinks. I don’t drink as a rule and they have capsized me.” However, the court heard that others on the scene thought Picot was able to drive and Poole reported that after a while they told him to return to Town, provided he drive slowly. Poole said that he executed the reversing manoeuvre “as well as any sober man”.
Unfortunately, this was not the end of Picot’s escapades. At 1.05 pm, Alfred Robert Bertram was delivering a basket of laundry to 7 Belvidere Terrace and had parked his lorry on the right-hand side of the road. Opposite him, Picot jumped the left-hand pavement in his vehicle and struck the wall. When asked what was wrong, Picot said to Bertram: “That’s all right, mate.” He quickly reversed once more and drove off. Bertram recorded that Picot’s front wheels seemed to be wobbling a lot as he was moving.
Picot’s fateful journey ended not long afterwards. When trying to turn at the First Tower Hotel, he took the corner too sharply and crashed into the wall. His passenger fell out of the front door and the left rear wheel passed over her body.
An ambulance was called and Driscoll was taken to hospital with a suspected fractured skull. She sustained a number of wounds and the doctor said that when she arrived at the hospital her conditions were life threatening. Fortunately, she recovered from them.
Arrested and charged
Picot was arrested and charged with having committed an infraction of Articles 3 and 5 of the Law on Roads by driving a motor car at a speed dangerous to the public safety while in a state of intemperance, and with having, through his negligence, caused a number of accidents.
The public prosecutor said it was difficult to find an appropriate sentence for the accused as it was an unusual case. Up until now, Picot had not been in trouble and he had a wife and two young children at home. However, he told the court that Picot was lucky he was not up for manslaughter charges and that motorists needed to be taught that they couldn’t drive in this manner. As a lesson, he asked that a sentence of three months’ imprisonment be levied and that Picot’s licence be withdrawn.
Defending Picot, Advocate Harrison said this sentence was far too severe. Pleading in mitigation, he said that Picot had consumed two drinks as it was cold. It was only later in the car journey that he felt the effects of the alcohol. It was an error of judgment, but the Belvidere Terrace accident had disturbed his equilibrium, which led to the final crash.
Testimonials read to the court described Picot as a sober and reliable man and he pleaded with the court for clemency. These pleas fell on deaf ears. The Bailiff informed Picot that he was a danger with a car and confirmed the sentence requested by the prosecution.
Return of licence
A twist in Picot’s story saw him returning to court just over a year later in May 1927, when he asked for his licence to be restored so that he could find work. Advocate Harrison said he thought this case was the first of its kind. Never before had the Court been asked to return a licence. He said that Picot had not had any alcohol since his court appearance and he had worked in a number of positions, including as a hall porter and window cleaner.
Picot had also served on the ss Kinloch and ss St Julien but staff was reduced and he lost his position. All employers gave him excellent character references. The Constable of St Helier also gave him work and wrote to the court to say that if they saw fit to return his licence, he would not object.
The Attorney-General had no objections to the restoration of the licence but did specify that he did not want this case to be considered a precedent. He said that Picot had behaved himself since the sentence: “He had had a little escapade, and had been sufficiently punished.”
The Bailiff agreed and it was reported that “it was quite clear that it was extremely difficult to find work, and it had been shown that Picot had done his best to keep his family well. He thought the discretionary powers given them in the Reglement entitled them to cancel the sentence as regards the suspension of licence”.
Family tree
Archibald Harold Picot did not live long after getting his driving licence back. He died in Bournemouth in 1929. He and his wife, Kathleen Gertrude, nee Gottrell, had a third child before he apparently left his family, perhaps looking for work in England. His widow and their children remained in Jersey.
