AFP An 83-year-old Australian woman who was fined for crossing the road too slowly has had the ticket torn up following community outrage, reports said. Pensioner Pat Gallen, who uses a walking stick to get around, was fined 30 dollars (23 US dollars) for failing to cross a road in her hometown of Malanda in far north Queensland "in the most direct route," The Daily Telegraph reported. "She didn't know whether to laugh or cry," her friend Fay Millist was quoted as saying. "Everyone thought the whole thing was so wrong in the first place for someone of that age." Police said the ticket, which had been issued by officers who were passing through the town, had been torn up. "Taking into account all the circumstances of the case and the public interest it was decided to have the ticket withdrawn," Mareeba District Inspector Rolf Straatemeier told the Cairns Post. Gallen said she would have fought the ticket in court. "But the matter has been resolved, the police have apologised, everyone has had a laugh and now we can forget about it," she told the paper. __________________
