A defiant pensioner was held in police cells after refusing to wear a seatbelt.
Gerard Parker, 74, admitted refusing to pay a fine for not wearing a seatbelt at Colchester Magistrates' Court yesterday.
Parker, of Harrow Road, Clacton, said he would not pay his £45 fine because he did not agree with the law.
He said he used to wear a seatbelt when they were first introduced, but he resented it when the Government said some people were obliged to wear them, the court heard.
He said he had been in court three or four times for the same offence.
Mr Parker, who was not represented, said: "As far as I am concerned the law as it stands takes away my freedom.
"The only way to get me to wear a seatbelt is to take away the compulsion."
Magistrates put Mr Parker in the police cells for the afternoon, and said they would take £10 from the money he had on him.
Published Friday, February 25, 2005
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