A MOTORIST stopped 50 yards in front of police carrying out a speed check to help other drivers avoid prosecution.
When officers spoke to Lee Harvey and asked him to move on, he turned around and blocked traffic on the other side of the road, a court heard.
He yesterday insisted he had stopped to take a call on his mobile phone.
Prosecutor Christian Meikle told Colchester Magistrates' Court: "The defendant stopped 50 yards in front of the police with their speed guns so the traffic would slow down."
He added: "When the police went to the other side of the road, he pulled over to the other side and blocked the traffic that side as well to stop people being caught speeding."
The 32-year-old admitted obstructing a police officer on Blackheath Road in Colchester on October 8.
Harvey, of Whittaker Way in Mersea, said that after taking a call on his mobile and being asked to move on, he went to the other side of the road to make another call.
District Judge David Cooper said: "It was very odd behaviour, wasn't it?
"It just seems as though he feels rather strongly about it."
He gave him a year-long conditional discharge with £80 court costs.
More in today's Evening Gazette
Published Friday, November 18, 2005
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