Dromara man is given driving ban

Christopher McCandless, Old School Court, Dromara, was fined £200 and banned for 18 months last Thursday at Banbridge Magistrates Court for driving with excess alcohol on August 1 this year.

Fines of £100 and concurrent 12 month disqualifications were imposed for driving without insurance and not having a licence.

He was also ordered to pay a £15 offender’s levy.

The court heard that at 12.20am a police mobile patrol in Dromore noticed a car being driven at speed through the town and then to Beech Grove.

They spoke to the defendant and there was a smell of intoxicating liquor on his breath.

McCandless admitted he had been drinking and that he did not have insurance or a licence. A breath test gave a reading of 50.

A solicitor representing the defendant said he made the foolish decision to go and collect his girlfriend’s car.

She explained that the girlfriend car been in the centre of Dromore a few weeks previously and some damage had been caused to it.

The solicitor said the girlfriend had taken the car into town this night and McCandless had walked a quarter of a mile into Dromore to collect it.