A CAR SELLER found guilty of dangerous driving and failing to give the correct vehicle ownership details to police was told his evidence was “not credible”.
Lee McVeigh, 23, of Kilwood Close, Crossgar, Co Down, appeared at Enniskillen Magistrates Court via videolink from his home to answer to charges relating to an incident in Kesh.
The hearing had to be stopped twice due to the conduct of the defendant who was sternly rebuked on both occasions by District Judge Alana McSorley.
When proceedings finally got underway, the Court heard that on August 1, 2021, footage was taken of a silver Lexus car being driven to Pettigo Road, Kesh where – on a 60 mph road – it performed a series of ‘donut’ turns with its wheels spinning thus causing other vehicles to stop.
A police investigation showed the vehicle to be registered to the defendant as well as him being the insured driver.
A letter of prosecution was sent to McVeigh which was not replied to along with a subsequent summons for October 2021 which the defendant failed to attend. Another summons for December 2021 also saw non-attendance.
In his testimony, McVeigh, who told the Court that he bought and sold cars as “a wee hobby”, claimed he was not the driver as he had sold the Lexus for £3500 on June 16, 2021, to a man in Letterkenny.
When asked by the defending barrister why both the registration and insurance of the car was still in his name, he replied that he was and that he shouldn’t be.
McVeigh was asked if he sent the slip of the logbook that the seller needed to retain after sale to the DVLA. He replied that he had sent that to the person he’d sold the car to in Letterkenny.
The Prosecution then repeated the question as to why McVeigh was still the registered owner and, given that he sold the car two years ago, why he was still the insured driver when insurance is renewed annually.
McVeigh replied that this was because that he had bought back the car last week.
Judge McSorley said that while the case was circumstantial, the evidence provided by McVeigh was not “credible”.
McVeigh was disqualified from driving for 12 months and handed down fines totalling £400.
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