THE purchase of false driving licence after putting out a request on a CB radio, led to a court appearance and a fine of €100.
Alan Custy, aged 34, was driving a Ford Transit pulling a trailer with a mini digger loaded, when gardai stopped him under suspicion that the weight of the machinery under tow exceeded the legal limit.
Custy, previously banned from driving, and whose licence had since expired after the ban was lifted, was brought to the weighbridge by gardai where it was discovered that the combined weight was 1.3 tonnes over the 5.7 tonne combined legal limit.
The accused, who appeared under summons to Limerick District Court, had been employed to drive the vehicle for a contractor.
The owner of the Ford Transit, trailer and digger, had also been banned from driving.
John Devane, solicitor for the accused, said that Alan Custy was unaware his employer was disqualified from driving, and believed that the van was fully insured.
The father of three, who had been unemployed, was said to have been arrears in his mortgage and financially struggling, so he took the job.
Mr Devane added that his client had put out a “call on the CB radio,” asking if anyone knew where he could get a false licence.
Within minutes, the court was told, a telephone number was transmitted over the airwaves for Custy to ring.
He sought the licence after his own had expired, and was now subject to revisiting the theory and driving test.
Unable to get the test, he called the number and bought the licence.
Mr Devane said that his client was in “extremely poor circumstances at the time,” and made the decision to obtain the licence while he waited to be called for his test.
“It was done out of necessity”, Mr Devane told Judge O’Donnell, adding that his client admitted it was a “foolish act”.
Judge O’Donnell fined Custy €100 and gave him six months to pay.
