IF YOU ARE an Isle of Man TT fan coming all the way over from Vanuatu, being fined a whopping £1,500 by the Manx authorities doesn’t seem to be most welcoming attitude to exert on someone who has travelled nearly 10,000 miles to get there.
However, Polina Khoroshko, aka Polina Hapi, found this out the hard way when she was arrested and charged for crossing the closed road at Hillberry Green, Douglas, during an evening practice session. She appeared in court and was handed down the fine.
This is not an unusual situation for the Manx authorities and Miss Khoroshko is not the only person to have felt the heavy hand of the law in the last week after numerous fans and locals were
Miss Khoroshko’s case is certainly more unusual than most though given she travelled 48 hours and 4 flights from Vanuatu - which is 3500km east of Australia alone - just to get there, according to IOM Today
Firstly, she did do wrong and it’s distressing to even imagine would could have occurred in a worst-case scenario and in terms of a deterrent the Manx authorities have – arguably rightly – have harsh ‘no exception’ laws.
On the other hand, as someone who lives on a Pacific Island – which other than the ‘Isle’ element shares nothing in relation to the Isle of Man, let alone the high-speed biking that takes place there – is it an easy mistake to make if you are far away from what you know?
Should she have received some leniency given this fine is on top of what must be an extraordinarily expensive trip for her? She claims the ruling is extortion and that her judgement had been clouded by being jet lagged from her journey
There was a crowdfunding page set up to help her cover the fees but it was taken down due to ‘defamatory’ comments being posted about her.
She posted: “I have gone through one of the worst experiences of my life last week.’
She said she had always dreamed of visiting the TT, and had travelled more than 48 hours, on four fights, to reach the island.
“I was extremely tired from my trip but excited to be there and after checking in at my place of accommodation I was told that I should just go up the road and have a look at the bikes practising.
“I went up and had a look and seeing people on both sides of the road, I waited until the traffic stopped and crossed the road to look from the other side.
“At this point all hell broke loose around me. A guy in an orange vest ran up to me and said my holiday was over and I was going to jail. I was bewildered, speechless and extremely apologetic as I have clearly done something extremely bad.
“There were no signs or warnings at all anywhere about it being forbidden to cross the road and punishable by imprisonment or fines and I haven’t seen anything since as one would often see around the world in other places.”
What do you think?
