Bought driving licence for £300

Felix Belo-Soares, Garvaghy Road, Portadown, was fined £200 last Friday at Craigavon Magistrates Court for possession of a false document on August 19 last year.

He was also ordered to pay a £15 offender’s levy.

For not having insurance he was fined £300 and given six points while £100 fines and three points were imposed for driving unaccompanied and not displaying ‘L’ plates.

The court heard he was seen driving on the M1 and when stopped he produced a document which appeared to be a Portuguese driving licence. Police suspected it was false and the defendant produced a Northern Ireland provisional licence.

He was unaccompanied in the car and was not displaying ‘L’ plates.

It was established that the Portuguese licence was not a valid document.

Defence barrister Conor Lunny said that his client had paid £300 for the licence and this was becoming a common type of offence by people from East Timor and Portugal, obtaining these wrongly and using them.