An Armagh learner driver who drove his parents’ car whilst he was over the legal drink drive limit has been disqualified for 12 months.
The 21-year-old’s solicitor told court: “There is very little that can be said. He took his parents’ car to go to a friend’s house, he consumed alcohol and then made the foolish decision to drive home after.”
Jack O’Callaghan, of Knockamell Park, had pleas of guilty entered on his behalf to driving with excess alcohol, not displaying L plates, failing to produce his licence, using a vehicle without insurance and being an unaccompanied L driver at the city’s Magistrates’ Court, sitting at Newry, on Tuesday.
Prosecution outlined that on August 16, at 8.20pm, police received a report of a two vehicle collision on Drumbreda Cresent in Armagh.
The reporting person claimed that the driver of the offending vehicle appeared to be intoxicated.
Officers arrived and spoke with the defendant, who accepted that he had been driving when his vehicle had collided with a parked Peugeot.
After observing that O’Callaghan’s eyes were glazed, a preliminary breath test was conducted resulting in a fail.
Police checks revealed that the defendant was a provisional licence holder only, that he was not insured, was unaccompanied and was not displaying L plates.
He was conveyed to Lurgan Custody Suite, where an evidential sample of breath was obtained giving a reading of 49mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath.
Defence barrister Conor Coulter stated: “This was a guilty plea at the earliest opportunity. There is very little that can be said.
“He took his parents’ car to go to a friend’s house, he consumed alcohol and then made the foolish decision to drive home after.”
District Judge Eamonn King disqualified the defendant from driving for 12 months and ordered that he pay a fine of £475, along with the offender’s levy of £15.
O’Callaghan was certified for the drink driving course which would see his ban reduced to one of nine months upon completion.
