Ukrainian man believed he was insured to drive when stopped by the guards

A Ukrainian man living in Inishowen, who inadvertently drove without insurance last year, has been fined €200.

Romesh Makovetski, with an address in Bridgend, Co Donegal, admitted a charge of no insurance at the July sitting of Carndonagh District Court, which was heard at Buncrana Courthouse.

The 28-year-old father-of-two was also charged with failure to produce insurance and having no NCT certificate on his car.

Inspector Sean McDaid summarised the evidence against Mr Makovetski.

He said Garda Christopher McGinley had been on patrol at Dristernan, Gleneely on Friday, November 8, 2024, when he observed a vehicle, a 2006-registered silver Audi A6.

He stopped the vehicle, which was being driven by Mr Makovetski, and demanded production of his certificate of insurance or exemption to a Garda Station within ten days. However, the documents were not produced, while there was also no valid NCT on the car.

Inspector McDaid told the court that Mr Makovetski was insured to drive as a named driver, but the third-party extension didn’t cover him to drive this particular vehicle.

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Meanwhile, Garda McGinley said he accepted that Mr Makovetski did genuinely believe he was insured at the time.

Solicitor Frank-Aran Murphy said his client, who has no previous convictions, hadn’t set out to break any laws.

“In Ukraine, once you are a named driver, you are covered to drive any vehicle, but this doesn’t apply in Ireland. He was fully convinced that he was insured at all times.”

Mr Murphy told Judge Eiteain Cunningham that Mr Makovetski has two young children and requires his licence to regularly drive one of them to school.

He said his client “wasn’t au fait” with the NCT system and has since sold the car involved, after realising that “it wasn’t up to scratch”.

Judge Cunningham said she wouldn’t impose a driving ban on the Ukrainian native.

“In the circumstances, on the Section 56 [no insurance charge], I’m going to convict and fine €200, and I’m going to allow six months to pay that.”

“I’m not going to disqualify, given that there are no previous convictions and the special circumstances which have been opened to this court.”

She took the other two charges into account.