A Balla man pleaded guilty in Castlebar District Court this week to having green diesel in his Jeep and was fined €2,500.
Customs officer Sean Fitzgerald told the court that on March 4 2010 he received a call from gardaí in relation to a registration tax issue for an English registered Jeep belonging to Stephen Boyd of Pullavaddy, Balla, Co Mayo. He called to Boyd’s residence and spoke to him and took a sample of the fuel in the Jeep’s tank, and when the sample was tested it was positive for marked gas oil. He also told the court that the issue of the registration tax had since been cleared up.
Aidan Crowley, solicitor for Boyd, told the court that his client had been fully co-operative with the customs officer and the gardaí, and that his client was formerly a self employed stone mason but his business had fallen off significantly since the downturn in the economy. Judge Mary Devins convicted and fined him €2,500, mitigating the fine down from the maximum of €5,000.
