George Lawson lost three demerit points and copped a hefty fine in the Bathurst Local Court just before Christmas after losing an appeal for running a red light.

A professional driver with a minimal traffic record since getting his licence in 1993, cited the successful defence of a red light charge by the former prime minister Paul Keating during his defence at the Bathurst Court House.

Mr Lawson, a young father from White Rock Road, was booked by police who observed him driving his partner’s blue Ford Falcon sedan safely through the traffic lights just after they had turned amber at the corner of Bentinck and Howick streets at about 10.45am on Thursday, July 15.

He argued before magistrate Jan Stevenson that traffic light laws in the Roads and Traffic Authority’s Road Users’ Handbook state:

“Yellow (amber) means stop.

You can enter the intersection if you are so close that sudden braking might cause a crash.”

Ms Stevenson heard evidence based on two police statements and refused Lawson’s appeal, confirming a $338 fine which also carried three demerit points that Lawson believed was far too harsh for an offence that was committed by other motorists every day.

“Really this offence with three demerits stinks,” Lawson said, believing he was within his rights driving safely as the light changed from green to yellow.

“I’m upset about this because I continued through the lights after another car in front of me had stopped on a green light, because traffic using inside lanes had been moving to park or making a left turn into Howick Street.

“I drove out and around the stopped car and over the line into the intersection just as the light changed to yellow or amber. According to police and the court I should have stopped unless there would be a crash I believe, and many other motorists are the same, including Mr Keating.”

Mr Lawson thought his appeal had not succeeded because the court ruled he had gone into the intersection on the amber light when there was no evidence he was avoiding a crash.

He tried to persuade the magistrate, Ms Stevenson, by offering a newspaper clipping of the high profile case in Sydney where Paul Keating successfully had a traffic infringement notice overturned by arguing “the light was yellow when he passed through an intersection.”

“The magistrate would not allow me to mention the Keating case, reported in The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday, September 29 saying it had no relevance to my case,” Mr Lawson said.

“Mr Keating came out of his court case saying his victory against a red-light infringement was a great victory for ordinary people.”

Mr Lawson said Mr Keating “had not a doubt in the world” the light was yellow when he passed through the intersection.

He said the former PM had driven safely through on an amber light, just as he had done in Bathurst in July.

“In my case the constable took my details and wrote an infringement notice, later saying the offence happened at 10.45am on July 15,” Mr Lawson said. “Yet the same officer and another in the car with him both wrote statements for the court saying I’d been booked about 8.45am.”

Mr Lawson said that both police said he was booked at about 8.45am in their statements, one saying exactly what the other said. “But the infringement notice said the offence happened at 10.45am,” he said.

The police constable said in his statement: “I’ve just stopped you because you didn’t stop at the yellow signal back at the intersection of Howick and Bentinck streets.”

Lawson had replied: “It was safe, so I kept going.”

The constable said: “Yeah, it may have been but you were travelling behind a vehicle that had stopped at the yellow light and you changed lanes to go around him and through the yellow light. Do you have your driver’s licence on you?”

The constable had returned to the police car but did not have an infringement notice book and said: “I will post a ticket out to you in the mail, I don’t have a book in the vehicle.

“It’s approximately $300 for not stopping at a yellow light.”