This article is from page 6 of the 2006-03-07 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
A “BOY racer” who paid almost €1,000 in fines because of a noisy exhaust on his car has now lost his job because of all the time he has spent in court answering summonses, a judge was told.
Twenty-year-old Brian Keane of Kilcolumb, Kilmaley, in Ennis was before Ennis District Court on a summons for having no silencer. After hearing evidence from Garda Michael O’Halloran, who stopped Keane on May 29, the defendants’ solicitor, Daragh Hassett, said his client was “a car enthusiast, some would describe them as boy racers.”
He had been summonsed four times before for the same offence and had paid almost €1,000 in accumulated fines as a result.
“He’s been in court on four Fridays since Christmas and he has now lost his job,” Mr Hassett said, adding that he had pointed out to Keane that his enthusiasm for cars had cost him the job.
The solicitor asked Judge Joseph Mangan to consider imposing a smaller fine because of what his client had lost.
Keane was fined a further €100 and his driving licence endorsed.