Ended up in ditch after losing control

When he was driving too fast a 20-year-old man lost control of his car and ended up in a ditch, Banbridge Magistrates Court heard last Thursday.

Lee Magill, Iveagh Drive, Banbridge, admitted a charge of driving without due care and attention on March 31 last year.

He was fined £250, ordered to pay a £15 offender’s levy and given eight points.

The court heard that at 6.50pm Magill was driving on the Huntly Road with two passengers on board.

A witness alleged that he was driving too fast and he lost control when he saw a motorcycle coming in the opposite direction and ended up in a ditch.

When interviewed by police at a later date the defendant denied he was driving too fast.

Instead he claimed that the motorcycle had driven at him.

A barrister representing the defendant said he now accepted he was driving too fast on a ‘windy road’ and lost control.

He added that as a result his client’s insurance had gone up to £2,800 and his vehicle had been fitted with a black box.

The lawyer said Magill needed his licence for his work and what had happened had been a lesson for him.

Deputy District Judge Anne Marshall said this had been a ‘very poor episode of driving’ by someone who was inexperienced.

She said he was lucky he did not collide with another car.

The judge added that it was a serious case of careless driving and it fell not far short of dangerous driving.

But she said she was not going to disqualify him because he needed his licence for his job.

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