Abusive driver didn’t know cyclists were off-duty gardaí

A motorist drove behind two cyclists, beeped at them, shouted that "fucking cyclists were taking over the road", threatened that he would roll over them next time, and drove off with a single-finger gesture out the window — not realising that the cyclists were two off-duty gardaí.

James O’Shea disputed the evidence given against him yesterday at Cork District Court on a careless driving charge.

At the end of the evidence of the first witness, cyclist and off-duty sergeant Ger O’Callaghan, O’Shea said: “I disagree with everything he said. The only thing the guard said that is true is the location.”