There was reported case of a mistaken motoring offence recently after an innocent motorist was summoned to appear in court for using a mobile phone whilst he was driving – despite the fact he only had a toffee bar in his hand.
The innocent man named Tom who recently spoke to RTE’s Liveline said he was wrongfully pulled over by an over eager Garda Road Traffic Corps unit after they thought they had seen a mobile phone in his hand, and to make matters worse an angry but innocent Tom, revealed that he didn’t even have a mobile phone in the car at the time of the alleged offence. The upset motorist also told the show he even asked the garda to search his person and car, but the garda refused to do so.
The wrongfully accused motorist told host Joe Duffy: “I requested him to search me, he said no, I didn’t even have a mobile phone on me at the time.” Tom further explained he was eating a toffee bar at the time that he had just picked up at a local shop. “He didn’t take it as evidence. He refused to search me and the car or even ring the mobile phone. “I had to bring my license and insurance to the garda station and I showed them the calls record on my phone.
Tom went onto say: “The garda just said to me, ‘I saw what I saw’. “I got a letter in the post with three penalty points and a fine, I refused to pay it.” The innocent motorist also revealed he requested advice from his solicitor who told him he would receive a court summons to the district court if he refused to pay the fine, “I said that’s fine.” “And I got the summons to go to court. The morning of the hearing, they decided to pull it and they didn’t go ahead with it.”
Tom finished by saying his legal fees for the solicitor amounted to €300.