A Dundee motorcycle champion convicted of running a red light attempted to pay his £120 fine in 1p and 2p coins.
John Leech, who disputed police evidence at his trial in April, had paid nothing towards his fine from the Justice of the Peace court in Dundee since he was caught.
Mr Leech, 36, of Broughty Ferry, is aprevious Scottish 125cc motorcyclechampion who most recently competed in the Irish 350cc championships, but was driving a car at the time of the offence.
He argued he passed the first set of lights at the junction with Polepark Road, which was amber at the time, but by the time he crossed over the other side of the junction they had turned to red.
He said: “The police were at PecoElectrics off Polepark Road and they didn’t have a clear view of me, they only saw the red light.
“I shouldn’t have been prosecuted, never mind convicted.”
Mr Leech was determined that, if he had to pay the fine, he would make sure it was on his terms.
That meant paying in the smallestdenomination coins he could 1p and 2p coins, which he gathered in from friends and family through a Facebook appeal.
He turned up at the JP court with the coins in a big carrier bag and offered to pay the full amount immediately.
Before going into court he told TheCourier: “I’m not counting it, they can count it on their own.I’m not bothered about the change, if it’s over they can put the amount in theircharity box or take it to the Salvation Army.
“They are stealing this money from me for something I haven’t done. What about the poor other drivers who don’t have ways and means to pay for it?
“I’m not refusing to pay it’s up to them if they refuse to take my payment.”
Once inside the court, Mr Leechwas called into the dock before Justiceof the Peace Christine McLeod and was asked why he hadn’t paid anything towards the £120. He replied: “I’m here to pay it today.”
The sheriff clerk then asked if he was paying in cash, to which Mr Leech replied: “Coins.” The clerk asked how much in coins and he replied: “£120.”
The clerk said: “We don’t accept coins, we can accept up to £20 in coins and the rest in notes.”
Mr Leech then dumped the bag of coins over the top of the dock he was standing in and they landed with a thump on the wooden floor of the court.
He said: “Are you refusing mypayment?”
The clerk replied: “We are not refusing your payment. If you want to pay £20 in coins that’s fine, then £100 will beoutstanding.”
After discussions between the justice and the clerk overthe methods of counting and paying for the fine, theJP said: “Mr Leech, I’m going to impose a fine enforcement order of £20 aweek until the fine is paid.
“You can pay that in any denomination you choose.”
He was givenfurther time to pay, starting from nextweek.
Afterwards Mr Leech said: “They can come to my home. I’m not going to come down here every week with my bag of money.”