Wayne McLennan, 75, was in the process of heading home from his local pub in the rural Queensland town of Chinchilla, when he was breathalysed by police and found to be slightly over the legal alcohol limit.
Mr McLennan was then taken to his local police station where a second blood alcohol test found that the grandfather was actually under the legal limit.
While he may have been lucky enough to avoid any penalties relating to alcohol, police noticed that Mr McLennan was carrying a pocket knife and chose to issue him with a fine.
Under Section 51 of Queensland’s Weapons Act, people are not permitted to carry a knife in public without a reasonable excuse. However, locals insist that the police are being unreasonable.
“Oh it’s ridiculous,” said Chinchilla resident Tom Latimore.
Having grown up on the land all his life, Mr McLennan has carried a pocket knife at all times since the age of 14, and he had no idea that his pocket knife would ever be classed as an illegal weapon.
As a lifelong farmer, a pocket knife has practical uses for Mr McLennan, which locals feel should qualify as a ‘reasonable excuse’ and not be viewed as illegal.
“If I got to go and put a bale of hay out, I use it to cut the string and then open a bag of horse feed, use it to open the top,” Mr McLennan told A Current Affair.
Since being fined, Mr McLennan revealed that he has stopped carrying his pocket knife after doing so for more than 60 years.
The QPS website expressly states that pocket knives are acceptable. Unless they are unusually large.
How ruddy ridiculous. Pathetic cops missed out on the dui charge so pick on something paltry anyway. No wonder police are losing our respect.
I would like to give Mr McLennan $100 … please advise how I can do this … so disgusted with this act of stupidity. The police need to go and do something worthwhile!
Unbelievable. That pocket knife could be the tool that would save his life. I hope it gets thrown out of court.
This is just another example of the way the world is going. Passing laws and having them implemented with no room for common sense.