Driver had to pull in sharply after overtaking police

Krzvsztof Mikolajczuk (38), Spelga Drive, Rathfriland, admitted driving without due care and attention on September 10 this year.

He was fined £200 last Thursday at Banbridge Magistrates Court, ordered to pay a £15 offender’s levy and given four penalty points.

The court heard that at 5.25pm on the Grovehill Road, Banbridge, a police vehicle was overtaken by a car travelling in the direction of Rathfriland.

At the road approached the brow of the hill the defendant’s vehicle had to brake heavily to return to its own lane.

This caused the police vehicle to brake.

A solicitor representing the defendant said he had a Polish licence which he had sent to the DVLA with a view to obtaining a Northern Ireland licence.

He explained that the reason he overtook on this occasion was that a vehicle in front with a trailer was going slower.

The solicitor said that his client worked for a local contractor as a joiner and needed his licence for work.

Deputy District Judge Liam McStay told Mikolajczuk he had ‘taken a very grave risk here for no good reason’ and it was a ‘matter of sheer good luck there wasn’t a car coming over the hill when you decided to go quicker that the man in front of you’.