Shocked Police Officer Found Crying Baby In Footwell of Van
A SHOCKED police officer discovered a crying baby in the foot well of a van stopped in Ely – the infant was in a safety seat but not strapped into the vehicle, magistrates heard. Ben Price was at the wheel of the Transit van; he had just picked up a frien
A SHOCKED police officer discovered a crying baby in the foot well of a van stopped in Ely - the infant was in a safety seat but not strapped into the vehicle, magistrates heard.
Ben Price was at the wheel of the Transit van; he had just picked up a friend and her two children, and was giving them a lift home.
"An officer heard a crying baby, but there was no baby in view," prosecutor Laura Mardell told city magistrates.
"He then found a small baby in a car seat in the foot well, on the passenger side. The driver apologised for his stupidity."
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Police had stopped the van near the Lamb Hotel just before 5pm; a woman and another child were also in the vehicle.
At Ely courthouse on Thursday, 24-year-old Price, of Hale Fen, Littleport, admitted the dangerous carrying of a passenger; there were three seats in the van but he was carrying a fourth passenger in a dangerous manner.
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"A friend of mine was stranded and needed to get home," he told the court. "I gave her a lift, I couldn't leave her in town with two kids, and I didn't know what to do."
Presiding magistrate Janet South told Price: "If you had had an accident, the consequences don't bear thinking of.
"We appreciate you were doing you friend a favour, but it was a dangerous favour, carrying a young child in the well of the van."
Giving Hale a one-year conditional discharge, Mrs South added: "It was a very foolish thing to do, don't do it again.
