Liam Kirkaldy (Reporter)
A GRAN CANARIA driver has been fined for simply TALKING to a passenger while driving.
Armando Chiriqui, 41, was fined €80 for “driving a vehicle without maintaining constant attention to the road.”
Chiriqui said he was pulled over in what he thought was a routine check, but was shocked to be fined for having a chat.
He insisted: “We were not a danger to the public.”
Chiriqui has decided not to fight the fine because of the likely cost of a court case, so instead chose to publicise his ‘ridiculous’ fine.
There are ways of talking – maybe the driver took his attention off the road to look at the passenger? I often see this, in cars travelling at high speed, sometimes to glance at the rear passenger!