# Fast run to funeral



## TimberMcPherson (Jul 29, 2009)

Thought I would share a bike related story with you guys.

Funeral pallbearer too fast for police radar- The Manawatu Standard

He was worried about being late for his granddad's funeral. 

So Travis Hickford-Page got on his bike and left police patrol cars vainly trying to to catch up with him for the next hour or so.

In fact, so fast was he going at one stage, he went off the police radar.

This was the story that unfolded in Palmerston North District Court yesterday when the 22-year-old Waiouru-based soldier, who had done time in Afghanistan, admitted a charge of dangerous driving last January 28.

It began from Hastings about 3pm that day and finished in Feilding when Hickford-Page dropped in on his mum, police prosecutor Sergeant Murray Lyons said.

He was to be a pallbearer at his grandfather's funeral at 4pm in nearby Sanson.

In between times, he was clocked at 144kmh on State Highway 2, south of Dannevirke, on his 1999 blue-and-white 1000cc Suzuki GSXR.

Hickford-Page overtook numerous cars on a blind bend before Woodville, and it was the driver of one of these who was able to do what police apparently couldn't make a note of his licence plate number.

In Woodville, said Mr Lyons, Hickford-Page seemingly looked straight at police on the roadside before speeding up, overtaking a milk tanker and crossing the ranges on the Saddle Rd toward Ashhurst. In doing so, he evaded a police cordon, said Mr Lyons.

At this point, the police lost sight of him before he next turned up in the Feilding area.

He was seen, head down, hurtling along Colyton Rd toward Kimbolton Rd. His speed at this point went off the police radar, but was later estimated at 200kmh.

Police were unable to pursue him because of the speed of events, Mr Lyons said.

Hickford-Page turned himself in for a chat with police the next day, his lawyer, Tony Thackery, said.

It had been an "emotionally-charged" day for Hickford-Page, because of family issues that arose out of the funeral, Mr Thackery added. Judge Gerard Lynch said Hickford-Page's driving had been "appalling".

But Judge Lynch said he didn't want Hickford-Page's military career to be damaged by any sentence.

He fined Hickford-Page $750 and banned him from driving for nine months.


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