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On This Day — 28 August 1936

Wembury learner driver banned for a year

A young Wembury motorist who repeatedly drove without proper supervision appeared before Plymouth magistrates on 27 August 1936.

The following day’s Western Morning News identified him as Roy Francis King Cummings, a 20-year-old plumber’s apprentice living at “Patroy,” Wembury Church Road.

Cummings admitted three offences involving driving while holding only a provisional licence. On two successive days in July, he had driven in Plymouth’s Embankment Road and Tavistock Road without being accompanied by someone qualified to supervise him. On 5 August he was seen driving in Old Town Street, again without supervision and without L-plates clearly displayed at the front and rear of the car.

The court heard that when Constable Lattimore stopped him in July, Cummings was already carrying a summons to appear at Yealmpton for a similar offence. He was subsequently convicted there and fined £1.

Despite that warning, he was stopped again by another officer the following day. When Constable Lattimore encountered him once more in Old Town Street on 5 August, the car door was open and the officer signalled for the driver to stop. Cummings admitted that he had not passed his driving test and said that he had forgotten to attach the L-plates.

His explanation for continuing to use the car was particularly unfortunate:

He said he needed to use the car because he wanted to pass his test.

Mr P. H. Smale, presiding, fined Cummings 10 shillings for each of the three offences, making a total of 30 shillings—or £1 10s. More seriously for the aspiring motorist, he was disqualified from holding a driving licence for one year.

Driving tests had been compulsory in Britain for only a little over a year, having been introduced in 1935. Cummings may therefore have belonged to a generation still becoming accustomed to the new rules. Nevertheless, repeatedly taking to Plymouth’s streets without an experienced driver, and continuing after an earlier conviction, left the magistrates little room for sympathy.

His attempt to gain enough practice to pass the test ultimately ensured that he would be unable to take it for another year.

Source: Western Morning News, Friday 28 August 1936.

On this day in Wembury — 28 August 1986

The Staffordshire Sentinel carried a story that showed ocean racing in a far less glamorous light. Bob Salmon of Wembury, a seasoned yachtsman and adventurer, admitted that his participation in the Whitbread Round-the-World Race had left him heavily in debt. Salmon, then fifty years old, had skippered the 77-foot yacht Norsk Data U.K. to ninth place in the gruelling 27,000-mile race, but the financial toll was as demanding as the physical challenge.

“I only bought the yacht for the race and I borrowed from the bank,” he told the paper. “It is true to say that I owe much more than my house is worth, but I didn’t remortgage the house — that wouldn’t have been fair to my wife and three children.” Despite the cost, he described the voyage as a “test run” and was already preparing for the next circumnavigation in 1989.

Salmon, born in Exeter and long settled in Wembury, became one of the best-known figures in the world of independent ocean racing. He appeared in the BBC2 documentary By Way of Cape Horn, which followed the fourth Whitbread Race and captured the raw reality of life at sea. His determination and honesty made him a favourite among sailors, and his story connected Wembury to one of the toughest maritime challenges on Earth — a reminder that the spirit of adventure still ran strong on this stretch of the Devon coast.
(Staffordshire Sentinel, 28 August 1986)