Banned driver was smoking a cigarette, window down, going 180km/h ... the wrong way down a motorway

A judge has told a man who put motorists’ lives in danger by driving up the motorway the wrong way three times, “don’t come out of Cork”.

At Ennis District Court, Judge Patrick Durcan also said he wants Patrick Cotter, aged 54, of Church St, Bandon, Co Cork, to give up his charity work that involved him travelling around and “to just watch the television from now on”.

Judge Durcan made his comments before giving Mr Cotter a suspended 10-month prison term and a 10-year driving ban “for the worst driving case I have come across in my three and a half years on the bench”.