A man who was moving his car a matter of metres to a more secure location and who already called a taxi was still put from the road for a year after he just failed a breath test.
The District Court in Athlone heard from Garda Shane Kenna last Monday (September 29 ) that whilst on patrol on the night of May 3 last in the Coosan Point Road area he saw a vehicle leave the Coosan Tavern at around 1.20am.
“I observed it driving across hatched markings in the middle of the road towards Beechpark West where he parked the vehicle,” said Gda Kenna.
He followed the car into the estate where the driver, a Mr Thomas Elliffe (54 ) of Meehan Quarter, Coosan was apprehended.
The Garda told the court he got a smell of intoxicationg liquor from the defendant and asked him for a breathalyser sample which Elliffe refused to give.
“Look lads I was only moving my car. I don’t do drink driving. I’ve called a taxi,” Elliffe said to the Garda.
He was arrested and cautioned and brought to the station where he gave an intoxiliser reading of 38 microgrammes of alcohol per 100mg of breath, just above the limit of 35/100.
“That’s not the highest reading ever?” asked defending solicitor, Jimmy Mannion.
“Eh, no,” said the Garda.
In mitigation, Mr Mannion explained how his client was driving home on the evening in question and stopped off at the Tavern where he met a friend and “stayed a little longer than he should’ve”.
“He was only moving his car a short distance to a more secure location when he was stopped.
“He is a married man with no previous convictions”.
Judge Aeneas McCarthy accepted this but still had to disqualify him from driving for one year and fined him €300.
He accepted Mr Mannion’s application for a postponement of the commencement of the ban until November 1 next in order to facilitate a family wedding of the defendant’s.
