Pensioner caught doing 98mph on Cookstown dual carriageway was going to church meeting
A pensioner caught travelling at 98mph on the Cookstown dual carriageway thought he would be late for a church meeting, Magherafelt Magistrates Court was told on Wednesday.
Eighty-one-year-old Thomas George Eakin, from Ballymoghan Road, Magherafelt, was also fined £200 with a £15 offender’s levy and handed six penalty points arising out of the incident on June 26.
Prosecuting counsel said the dual carriageway is restricted to 60mph and the defendant admitted that he was the driver of the vehicle.
Admitting the offence Stewart Ballantine, solicitor, said the offence happened at “a slack time of the evening” and the defendant thought he would have been late for the meeting.
Mr Ballantine said the defendant was a farmer and has been on the road for 64 years and accepted the speed was unjustified.
District Judge Oonagh Mullan said it was an excessive speed and excessive speed caused a danger not only to the driver but to other road users.