Co Armagh man, who was stuck at the railway gates in Lurgan, drove down the wrong side of the road towards train station 'at speed', Craigavon court hears
A Co Armagh man drove ‘at speed’ on the wrong side of the road in Lurgan after traffic was built up due to the railway gates being down, a court has heard.
The 50-year-old, who is self employed, didn’t attend Craigavon Magistrates Court as he was working.
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Ciaran Rice, from Clanrolla Park, Craigavon pleaded guilty to a number of motoring offences including no insurance, taking a vehicle without authority, careless driving, no L plates displayed and being an unaccompanied L driver.
The court was told police were travelling along Charles Street in Lurgan on November 4 last year and as they approached the junction with William Street, the railway gates were down with traffic queued back towards the junction.
Police spotted a Seat Ateca driving down the wrong side of the road on William Street towards the train station ‘at speed’.
Officers also saw a car pulling out of a car parking space, having to take evasive action to allow the defendant’s vehicle to pass.
Police followed the defendant’s vehicle into the car park of Lurgan train station.
They discovered Rice’s provisional driving licence had expired and he wasn’t covered by the insurance on the vehicle. He also admitted he ‘just took’ the car, the court heard.
District Judge Michael Ranaghan told Rice’s solicitor, Ms Suin Downey, that her client was “lucky” to have been charged with careless driving rather than dangerous driving as he was on the wrong side of the road.
Ms Downey said she wasn’t sure if the district judge is aware of that stretch of road. She said the manner in which her client was driving was “unacceptable”, however she explained that driving on the wrong side of the road in William Street. Lurgan when the railway gates are down is “very much common practice”.
The solicitor explained that her client foolishly took the car, which belonged to his mother-in-law, as he wanted to pick up his son.
Rice was banned from driving for four months on each offence. He was also fined £75 for each offence plus the £15 offender levy – a total of £380.
The defendant was given 14 weeks to pay the fines.