A Tassagh man who allowed his son to drive without insurance had a long history of similar offending.
Fifty-three-year-old Ivan Noel Burnley, of Dundrum Road, was banned from driving for two months.
Armagh Magistrates’ Court heard on Tuesday that his record showed seven convictions for driving without insurance, and seven more for permitting no insurance.
The defendant’s Volkswagen Golf car was stopped on April 22, last year, at around 12.05am, at Abbey Street in Armagh.
The driver of the car was the defendant’s son, and police found he was not insured to be driving the vehicle through any valid policy.
When the defendant was arrested he made no reply to police but later in interview admitted that he had given his son permission to take the car.
Defence counsel conceded that Burnley did have a relevant record but insisted most of these offences were some time ago with only three happening since 2012.
It was heard that the defendant had been banned for nine months for an offence which occurred in May of last year.
The defence argued that if the two separate incidents had been dealt with together his length of disqualification would not have been significantly longer.
Court also heard that Burnley lived in a rural area and had recently begun work as a “farm hand”.
Defence counsel also pointed out that there had been no breach of the defendant’s driving ban since it was imposed in July of last year.
Deputy District Judge Anne Marshall told the defence that Burnley was in a “very dangerous” position as he already had six live penalty points on his licence.
The defendant had seven previous convictions for both no insurance and permitting, the court heard.
Deputy District Judge Marshall commented: “With a record like that you would think Mr Burnley would have his car keys locked away.”
She added that it may have been the case that if the offences had been dealt with together the length of the ban would not have been affected.
Burnley was handed a two-month disqualification from driving and ordered to pay a fine of £200, along with the offender’s levy of £15, within 10 weeks.
