Uninsured driver 'was taking car to be fixed'

Ivan Fleck (43) of Coral Close, Ballymoney appeared in court to plead guilty to a charge of no driving licence and no insurance.

A prosecutor told the court Fleck was driving a silver Mercedes in the Diamond area of Kilrea on Tuesday 8 December last year when he was stopped by police.

He was unable to produce insurance documents or a driving licence.

A defence solicitor said their client had been a “relatively prolific offender” on the roads until 1997 though had since “got his house in order”.

The solicitor said Fleck - who carried out repairs on cars - had been taking the vehicle to replace wheel bearings.

“He believes police were looking for this car and that is why they stopped him,” said the solicitor.

“The police were able to tell him when stopped that it wasn’t covered with insurance.

“He couldn’t produce his licence as he couldn’t find it then when he did it was out of date.”

The solicitor said Fleck thought the car was insured for him to drive.

District Judge Richard Wilson said Fleck should have known he needed a policy to cover him for such work.

“He has had a cavalier attitude to driving for a number of years,” said Mr Wilson.

“He obviously had cleaned up his act,” said the solicitor.

Mr Wilson added: “You should have though before you engaged in the business activity.”

Fleck was fined 100 for no licence, 300 for no insurance and disqualified from driving for 12 months.