Disqualified Cookstown driver told police he had permission from the DVA to drive, court told
A disqualified driver who told police he had been given permission by the DVA to drive, has lost his licence for 12 months.
Ralph David Burnside, aged 58, from Crossglebe, Cookstown, was also given a five-month jail sentence, suspended for 18 months, for driving while disqualified on the evening of April 18 last year.
Burnside was also given a concurrent two-month jail sentence suspended for the same period for using a vehicle without insurance on the same date.
Dungannon Magistrates Court was told that the offences came to light when police on mobile patrol stopped a car on the Moneymore Road carriageway at Cookstown.
Prosecuting counsel said Burnside was accompanied by a passenger and enquiries showed he had been disqualified from driving at Dungannon Court on January 17 last year.
The lawyer said during police notebook interview Burnside claimed he had been given permission to drive by the DVA.
A defence lawyer said the defendant accepted that there was a disqualification in place.
He said on the night in question the defendant had been with a friend in Magherafelt when he received a call to come to Cookstown and he had "panicked" and driven.
"It was a thoughtless and foolish action," the lawyer added.
Imposing the penalties, District Judge Francis Rafferty remarked that the defendant and his passenger were on the road and neither of them were insured to drive.
The judge described the defendant's explanation to police as "absolutely nonsensical" that the DVA had given him permission to drive.