A man who needs his driving licence for work avoided being put off the road for no insurance when he pleaded guilty to the charge at Galway District Court.
Ronan Whyte (35 ), Renville East, Oranmore was brought before Judge Fiona Brennan on foot of a bench warrant which was executed by Gardaí.
He was charged with driving without a licence and not being insured when his motorbike was detected by Gardaí using automatic number plate recognition equipment in June of last year.
The court was told that the no licence charge was being withdrawn and Whyte pleaded guilty to driving without insurance. He has a previous conviction for no tax for which he was fined €60 in 2017.
His solicitor pleaded that his client was now fully compliant and had insurance.
He had allowed his insurance lapse through an oversight but had learned a valuable lesson, the defence pleaded, adding that his client travelled a lot for work and needed his licence.
Driving without insurance on a first offence can result in a two-year mandatory driving ban, five plenty points and a fine of up to €5,000.
Judge Brennan took on board the defence plea that Whyte would lose his employment if he receive a disqualification and imposed a fine of €350 with no ban imposed.
