Man’s attempts to pay speeding fine ‘frustrated by bureaucracy

A senior garda responsible for processing speeding fines is to appear before a Cork judge to explain why a retired teacher’s attempts to pay a fine had been "frustrated by bureaucracy".

Judge James McNulty directed Garda authorities to instruct Inspector John McDonald to appear before Macroom District Court on July 16. The inspector heads up the Fixed Charge Processing Unit in Thurles which deals with offences detected by GoSafe vans.

The court heard yesterday that Timothy Doherty’s first attempt to pay an €80 fine for speeding on the N22 Cork-Killarney on November 16 last year was rejected as he did not include his middle name when signing a payment form, as it appeared on his licence.

Mr Doherty, aged 63, of Tsuaimhnis a Caipin, Inis Cein, Co Cork, explained he was then fined €120 for failing to pay the original penalty on time. He returned the form with his first cheque for €80 and a second for €40 to cover the fine.

Mr Doherty was brought to court after being told his second attempt to pay could not be processed as two cheques could not be accepted as payment for one fine.

Judge McNulty said: “It’s a puzzle to me as to why this man’s honest efforts to pay his penalty has been frustrated by the bureaucratic requirements of God knows where.”

The matter was adjourned until July 16.