Speeding fine system ‘bureaucracy gone mad’

A judge has criticised the process used by gardaí to issue speeding fines as "bureaucracy gone mad" and said that district courts have unfairly been targeted for criticism by a government minister for "systemic failures".

Judge James McNulty made the comments yesterday, having ordered the inspector responsible for overseeing the issuing of fixed-charge, penalty notices to appear in Macroom District Court to explain why a retired schoolteacher was prosecuted for not paying a speeding fine, having attempted to do so twice without success.

Last month, Timothy Doherty, aged 63, of Inniskeane, Co Cork, told the court that his first attempt to pay the €80 fine he received for speeding on the N22 Cork-Killarney road on November 16, 2013, was rejected because he did not sign his middle name, as it appears on his driving licence, on the form that accompanied his cheque.