Offaly car enthusiast banned for driving without insurance

A MAN described in court as a car enthusiast was fined €1,000 and banned from the road for two years for driving without insurance.

Deividas Rimeikis (23), Chancery Park Avenue, Tullamore was summonsed by Garda Pat McGee for using a vehicle with no insurance at Tulla and Crumlin, Kinnitty, on November 14, 2021.

The court heard there were policies in place in relation to a number of vehicles and temporary cover had also been issued but the core issue was the ownership of the car which Mr Rimeikis was using on the date he was stopped by Garda McGee.

John O'Dwyer, BL, for the defendant, told Tullamore District Court the accused was a car enthusiast who believed he was covered to drive the vehicle.

Judge Andrew Cody ruled that Mr Rimeikis did own the car he was driving when stopped by Garda McGee but he was not insured to drive it.

A Lithuanian man who had lived in Ireland for most of his life and had been working since he was 17, Mr Rimeikis had a previous conviction for careless driving dating from 2019 and was fined and disqualified from driving.

Imposing the fine and two-year driving ban, Judge Rimeikis also fixed recognisances for an appeal.