Musician not disqualified after driving at 187km/h

A musician who drove at up to 187km/h on a motorway as he made his way home after a concert has been convicted of careless driving.

Peter Wilson, aged 42, aka Duke Special, had been charged with dangerous driving on the M1 at Gibstown, Co Louth, on Aug 22 last year, but Judge Flann Brennan was told yesterday gardaí would accept a guilty plea to the offence of careless driving.

Wilson, from Lomond Avenue, Belfast, was driving on the northbound carriageway when gardaí on routine patrol saw him “driving at a constant speed of 170kph and at 187kph at one stage,” Garda Inspector Brendan Cadden told Dundalk District Court.

The inspector said traffic had been light but the road surface was wet and it was getting dark. He said the defendant had no previous convictions.

Eleanor Kelly, defending, said her client was a self-employed musician and was driving back to Belfast from a concert. He had held his hands up and was extremely embarrassed to be before the courts.

Judge Brennan said the excessive speed involved was “at a level I’d normally consider a disqualification”. He said he would not do that but was convicting him and fining him €350 to be paid forthwith. He said he was not disqualifying him today but if he drove at a speed like that again, he would.