Judge says speeding fines system is ‘daft and unreal’

Red tape, over a missing ‘o’ in the name O’Donovan, has led a judge to describe the speeding prosecution system as “totally daft, unreal and unbearable”.

Judge Patrick Durcan launched a scathing attack on the enforcement system against speeding motorists when he heard that the Garda Fixed Charge Processing Unit in Thurles would not accept a cheque from a John O’Donovan over the unit’s own mis-spelling of the surname.

Solicitor for Mr O’Donovan, Daragh Hassett told Ennis District Court: “Mr O’Donovan’s name had been spelt D-o-n-o-v-a-n and, unfortunately, the Fixed Charged Processing Unit had spelt the name D-o-n-a-v-a-n.