Motorist stalled car 20 feet from border

A motorist who tried to flee across the border away from Donegal Gardai was thwarted in his bid to escape when his car broke down just 20 or 30 feet from the border.
By The Newsroom
Published 27th Sep 2015, 13:00 BST
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Before Buncrana District Court was Thomas Doherty (21), from Culmore, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, not having insurance and failing to stop.

Garda Robyn Hennigan told the court that at 2.22am on July 30, 2013, at a checkpoint at Elaghbeg, between Bridgend and Burnfoot, he saw a vehicle pull out of the Muff Road in the direction of Bridgend. He activated the blue lights on the patrol car but Doherty failed to stop, travelling at speeds of up to 125kph through Bridgend, but just past the Texaco filling station, near the border, Doherty’s car lost power .

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Doherty pulled over to the left hand side of the road and stopped. He was then arrested.

Ciaran MacLochlainn, defending, said his client was co-operative with Gardai and had been 20 or 30 feet from freedom when the car failed.

He said Doherty had panicked as he had no tax on his Mercedes and was not insured and his client was anxious to keep his licence as he needed it for work.

Judge Paul Kelly instructed Doherty to complete a pro-social driving course and adjourned the case until December to enable him to do so.

He also directed Doherty to pay 200 Euro towards the cost of the course, and told him driving away from the Gardai had been an expensive lesson.