A DRIVER paid £500 to a UK broker to get motor insurance, only to find that the certificate he was issued was a fake, a Limerick judge was told.
James Mulcair, of 18 Abbey Court, Rathkeale, County Limerick, was before Judge Adrian Harris on charges of driving without insurance in December 2023.
Newcastle West District Court heard that Mr Mulcair was stopped and agreed to produce a certificate of insurance.
But, his solicitor Ted MCarthy said that “the cert which he produced to Gardaí in good faith, believing himself to be insured, was a fake”.
Mr McCarthy told the judge that his client had organised insurance for himself with a broker in the UK and received the certificate, having paid £500 Sterling to be insured.
“He was under the distinct impression he was covered and produced the certificate as proof in the Garda station, but on closer examination, the certificate was a fake and the broker gone in the wind. Mr Mulcair was left £500 out of pocket. He was duped,” Mr McCarthy told the court.
Noting the facts of the case, Judge Harris imposed a total of 10 years driving ban, and fined the uninsured driver a total of €1,300.
The judge agreed to a request from Mr McCarthy that the ban be delayed until October, given Mr Harris’ guilty plea and the fact that he has a young child with a medical condition who has to be brought to hospital in Dublin for appointments and “needs time to put other arrangements in place”.
