Chester Borrows MP
National Party Police Spokesman

28 November 2007

PCA confirms Clark’s drivers were ‘fall guys’

The Police Complaints Authority has confirmed that the drivers convicted over Helen Clark’s speeding motorcade through Canterbury in 2004 were the fall guys in that sorry saga, says National’s Police spokesman, Chester Borrows.

He is commenting on the PCA report into complaints and prosecutions arising from the motorcade after which six drivers were charged and three convicted.

“The PCA agrees with the sentencing judge that the three men who were convicted were let down by the system.

“The judge found that they had no briefing from their superior, no indication as to how they were supposed to drive, no guidance from their commanding officer, and there was no policy or protocol that applied to this type of situation – and the PCA agrees, saying the defendants ‘felt they were doing no more than their duty’.

“Basically, these guys were told to do something and they did it.

“They were hung out to dry by both their superiors, by the system, and then by the Prime Minister, who refused to answers questions in Parliament after they were charged.

“Her continued refusal to take any sort of responsibility for what happened does her no credit at all.

“She has yet to explain why she didn’t just ask them to slow down. She was in charge of that motorcade and they would have slowed down if she had asked them to.

“I note that the PCA says it examined the liability of everyone in the motorcade but does not discuss the advice from the Crown solicitor as to why Helen Clark was not liable.”

ENDS

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