Driver made colour copies of insurance disc for second car

A driver made colour photocopies of his insurance, tax and NCT discs and put them on another car.

However, an eagle eyed Garda at a checkpoint saw that the discs on the windscreen of Lazlo Toth’s car were fraudulent.

Toth, of Carrowkeel, Bunnahowen, Ballina was stopped at a checkpoint at Beltra on October 11 th 2017 by Garda John O’Reilly and was summoned before Sligo District Court for not having tax, NCT or insurance on the car.

Inspector Paul Kilcoyne said fixed penalty charge notices were issued in respect of the tax and NCT but these were not paid.

Inspector Kilcoyne said the documents on the car did not belong to that vehicle. The defendant did not have any previous convictions.

The Inspector agreed with Mr Tom MacSharry, solicitor (defending) that the defendant made full admissions at the scene and also in a statement later made at Sligo Garda Station.

Mr MacSharry pleaded that the defendant, a Hungarian national had a family car at his home which was fully taxed and insured. He decided to take his second car into Sligo in order to get it repaired with a view to selling it.

He copied the documents from the other car to this one but this was spotted by the Garda at the checkpoint. The defendant didn’t have the money to tax this second car and it was now gone, having been crushed.

Toth apologised in court saying he was the father of a small child and lived in a very rural area with his disabled wife. There was no public transport available.

He only did this once and it would never happen again. He told the Judge he had made colour photocopies.

Judge Kilrane fined Toth €300 for not having insurance and €300 for using a false instrument.

“He was pretty adept at what he was doing,” he said.