Dundalk court: Fined for drunk driving

A 26-year-old Armagh man whose car collided with a patrol car after he drove the wrong way down a one-way street in Dundalk, was stopped after he struck a patrol van, Dundalk district court was told.

Jason Mackin with an address at Newtown Road, Belleeks was before the court charged with drunk driving, causing criminal damage to the Garda patrol van on February 5th last year, along with six counts of dangerous driving at Park Street, Rampart Lane, the Inner Relief Road, Blackrock Road, the Dublin Road and Xerox Business Park on the same date.

The court heard gardai were on mobile patrol on Park Street around 3.05am when they observed a white BMW 5 series drive the wrong way down a one-way street.

It struck the back panel of the patrol car and mounted a kerb before speeding off to avoid being stopped.

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The defendant was eventually stopped after colliding with the front bumper of a patrol van at the Xerox junction and subsequently gave a sample that was over the drink driving limit.

The defence solicitor said he had a cheque for €600 in court to cover the damage caused and stressed that his client wished to apologise to the gardai and the court.

He added he works as a car wash attendant and lives at home with his parents and asked the court to view it as an isolated incident.

Judge Eirinn McKiernan imposed a €300 fine for the drunk driving offence and a three-year disqualification and marked the other charges before the court taken into consideration.