A MOTORIST has been cleared of flashing on a Hampshire motorway.

A woman claimed she saw Vincent Meunier exposing himself and winking at her as their vehicles were alongside each other at 70mph on the M27.

However Mr Meunier argued that he had a weak bladder and sometimes had to urinate while out in his van into a cup.

The 45-year-old was found not guilty of indecent exposure by magistrates after a trial.

The woman, who was in the passenger seat of her mother’s car on the eastbound M27, told Fareham Magistrates’ Court how she had become aware of another car pulling alongside theirs on the inside lane to her left on December 10 last year.

She said she saw a man she later identified as Mr Meunier exposing himself, and then winked at her.

Asked what he was doing, she said she believed he was committing an indecent act and believed they were driving at around 70mph at the time.

She took the van’s registration number which was later matched to Mr Meunier’s vehicle.

However Charles Holt, defending, argued that at the angle from which she had been looking at him, which she admitted was upwards, she could not have seen below his waist.

Giving evidence, Mr Meunier, of Tolefrey Gardens, Chandler’s Ford, told the court how he did not recall any such incident, but confirmed that on a few occasions he has had to urinate into a cup and that he could only assume that that’s what the woman had seen.

‘Worried and scared’ He admitted in interview that he had occasionally winked at people when they looked at him whilst driving, the court heard.

He denied he had ever committed an indecent act in his van.

The carpet fitter and former charity bag collector said he was definitely not exposing himself intentionally, saying: “The only time I would have done it was to urinate and I definitely wouldn’t have done it intentionally.

“No-one else drives it [the van]. I could have been urinating, but I would never ever intentionally urinate in front of anyone or do anything else in front of anyone.”

He said he had been worried and scared when arrested.

He produced a doctor’s letter for the court of his referral to an urologist for ongoing urinary problems, which involved urinating up to 25 times a day.

He told the court he had first mentioned the problem to a doctor last year before the incident he was accused of, but accepted prosecutor Noel Watkins’ assertion that the letter from his doctor did not give an indication of when he had first gone to the doctor and that he had not produced any letters from before December last year.

He denied that he had gone to the doctor to try to find an excuse.

Magistrates said they had concluded that the witness’ visibility would have been impaired so found there was not enough evidence to safely convict.

Mr Meunier declined to comment to the Daily Echo outside court.