A judge said he would start removing driving licences from people after the summer break if they didn't start dealing with their summonses in a more punctual fashion.
Judge John Neilan issued the warning in Athlone District Court this week (July 1 ) after having to deal with at least 10 cases where the individuals had their cases struck out or leniently dealt with by the court after eventually proving the bona fides of their driving documents to their arresting gardai on the day of their hearing.
“I'm going to instruct that from the first of September I am going to remove licences,” said the judge.
“People want Gardai on the end of every street but they won't lift a finger to make things easier for the ones we have,” he added after Joseph Clancy (29 ) from Belmont, Co Offaly had finally presented his insurance, NCT and licence to Garda Keith Harrison seven months after he was initially asked.
“The court has extended you the maximum leniency. Your driving licence is a privilege, not a right.
“Why didn't you hand in your documents [within the 10 days given]?” asked the judge.
“I genuinely forgot,” said Clancy.
“Do you forget to pick up your paypacket?” asked the judge rhetorically.
Two cases later and it was the same state of affairs with Peter Egan (30 ) from Ballinahown who had been stopped on January 23 and asked to produce his documents and gave the excuse that he had been working in Cork for his tardiness.
“Ah, listen,” said the judge, “If I was stopped on the way home and told to produce my documents, I wouldn't even put the kettle on for a cup of tea before I got them and presented them to the Gardai.
“Garda time is very expensive,” he told Egan.
In the case of a summons like these, where a person has not got the correct paperwork on their windscreen or in their glove box, the Gardai give 10 days for it to be presented to a station of the person's choice. After that, a summons will be issued, with a penalty ranging between €80 and a very rare maximum of €800.
Even after the summons has been issued, the person can discharge their responsibilities at the Garda station up to one day before the court date.
As the summonses are traditionally heard at the end of the day it is regarded as an unnecessary waste of a garda's day to stay in court all day to have to deal with an unnecessary case.
