The owner of the Hilamar Hotel, in Kinnegad has successfully appealed a six month driving ban for driving at over 100mph.
Garda Duggan gave evidence that on March 19 of last year, Mr Robert Bagnall of Kinnegad had been clocked on the N6 at Rochfortbridge travelling at 156km/hour in a 100km zone.
On January 17 he had been fined €800 and was disqualified for six months as a result.
Questions were raised about whether the road was a motorway or dual carriageway. Mr Bagnall maintained that there had been no signposts on the road when he joined it and he assumed that it was a motorway.
He said he was overtaking a car when he saw the off-ramp for Kinnegad and had to increase his speed to cut off for the off-ramp.
The reason the fine hadn’t been paid was that on two occasions he had written the wrong licence number on the form and the cheque had been returned.
“You know the roads better than anyone,” claimed prosecutor Mr Peter Jones, who argued that the signage at the time was clearly marked green.
Judge Kennedy, who recognised Mr Bagnall from a previous court appearance when he applied for a licence for the Hilamar Hotel in Kinnegad, reduced the fine to €150 and deleted the disqualification.
