Uninsured driver is told to ‘get a grip’

A judge told a man who drove without insurance to ‘get a grip’ at a recent sitting of Bray District Court.

Brendan Higgins, with an address in County Longford, and a co-accused James Deering of Dublin, were facing charges regarding the same vehicle.

On Saturday, March 25, 2017 at 12.30 p.m. Garda Ciara Toolis stopped a lorry at Monastery in Enniskerry during a routine checkpoint.

Garda Toolis told the court that the insurance disc had expired in September 2016.

She spoke to the driver who handed her a learner permit, class BW only. She said that this was a standard car licence and was not the required category C document for the lorry. Higgins could not provide a certificate of roadworthiness for the vehicle.

The front-seat passenger, a John Whelan, had borrowed the vehicle from James Deering. The driver was going out with his daughter, the court heard.

Garda Toolis rang Mr Deering to inform him that the vehicle had been stopped and the person driving did not have a valid licence.

Mr Deering told her that it was a spare lorry he had given on loan, assuming Mr Whelan had his own insurance policy.

Barrister Shannon Biondi for Mr Deering said that her client had given consent to Mr Whelan, rather than to Mr Higgins. She said that Mr Deering did not know Higgins and had not given consent for him to drive the lorry.

For that reason, the matter against Mr Deering was dismissed. ‘Brendan Higgins is mentioned in the summons specifically,’ noted Judge Ken- nedy. ‘I have to dismiss.’

Higgins told the court that he has been doing a coal run for St Vincent de Paul since 2012. ‘Our own Ford Transit broke down. My father-in-law asked Mr Deering if he had a spare lorry.’

He said that he thought Mr Whelan had changed over the insurance and didn’t ask about it. He also thought that the weight of the lorry was under 3.5 tonnes and, therefore, suitable for his licence.

‘I never borrowed a car in my life,’ said Higgins.

Judge Kennedy said that he would convict as it was incumbent on Higgins to ensure that everything was in order.

The court heard that Higgins has 41 previous convictions, including four for no insurance.

‘You have a very lax attitude to road traffic legislation,’ said Judge Kennedy.

‘I’m improving with that,’ replied the defendant.

‘This is your fifth conviction for no insurance,’ said the judge, who very nearly imposed a six-month prison term but changed the sentence when he heard that the last conviction was prior to 2005. Instead, Judge Kennedy imposed a community service order.

He also banned Higgins from driving for five years for having no insurance and fined him €350 for using the lorry without CRV, €350 for having no valid driving licence, and €750 for not having insurance.

‘You just have no regard for road traffic regulations,’ Judge Kennedy told the defendant. ‘How do you have a licence at all? Really, get a grip. It’s not that difficult.’

The matter was adjourned to June 28 for the production of the community service report.