Man stopped at Kildare checkpoint told garda no need for test because he'd had 10 pints
Vehicle
A driver stopped at a garda checkpoint told the garda there was no point in conducting an alcohol test because he had consumed ten pints.
Before Naas Court on March 23 was Alan Cullen, 37, whose address was given as 7, Palatine, Carlow for driving with excess alcohol.
Garda Stephen King said the defendant was driving a van when he arrived at a checkpoint at Ballyroe on September 13 at 11.54pm.
The defendant was the sole occupant of the vehicle and said there was no point in doing a test because he had been drinking since he finished work and had had 10 pints.
The garda said the defendant failed a roadside breath test and was brought to Athy garda station where a breath sample returned a reading of 81 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath.
The garda said the defendant was cooperative at all times.
Defending solicitor Ian McSweeney said that the case would be dismissed because there was no evidence that the garda had asked him when he had had his last drink.
Mr McSweeney also contended that there was no evidence of an opinion being formed that the defendant had consumed alcohol to an extent to prevent him having control of a vehicle and that one of the times on the document authorising the checkpoint was not sufficiently clear.
However, Judge Desmond Zaidan did not hold with him.
The defendant, who is self-employed, was fined €500 and disqualified from driving for three years. The start of the disqualification was postponed for six months.