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16 Oct 2025

Donegal engineer caught driving BMW at over 160km/h sent on driving course

The 25-year-old accused appeared at Letterkenny District Court after he was stopped by Gardai who were operating a speed check in the area at the time

Donegal engineer caught driving BMW at over 160km/h sent on driving course

Josh Reid at Letterkenny District Court. (North West Newspix)

A Donegal engineer who was caught doing more than 160kph in his newly-acquired BMW has been sent on a driving course.

Josh Reid was caught by Gardai smashing the 100kph speed limit at Coolboy outside Kilmacrennan just after midnight on May 20, 2025.

The 25-year-old accused appeared at Letterkenny District Court after he was stopped by Gardai who were operating a speed check in the area at the time.

Reid, of Ard Na Dation, Manorcunningham, was initially charged with dangerous driving.

Solicitor for the accused man, Mr Frank Dorrian, explained to Judge Brendan O'Reilly that the stretch of road on which his client was stopped was between Letterkenny and Kilmacrennan.

He added that it was "nearly a mile dead straight road."

Mr Dorrian said that the road conditions and that there was nobody else on the road at the time.

"Apart from the Gardai," interjected Judge O'Reilly.

Mr Dorrian said he was asking the court if it would consider reducing the charge to one of careless driving due to the fact that there was nobody else on the road and that his client has no previous convictions.

"It was a moment of exuberance in a recently acquired vehicle," the solicitor said.

The court was told that the accused driver is an engineer who fixes high-end components at electrical stations and travels the "length and breadth of the country."

Mr Dorrian said the incident was an "aberration" which people sometimes do with a recently acquired car.

Pleading for the charge to be changed to careless driving, Mr Dorrian told Judge O'Reilly: "This gentleman will not be reoffending."

The Judge said he was satisfied that he could exercise his discretion in the case but only because the incident had happened at night.

"If he had done this in the daytime and there were people on the road …” he commented.

He said he would reduce the charge to one of careless driving but said: "Traveling at a speed like that at best shows a reckless disregard for his safety and other people using the road."

He adjourned the case until January, 2026 and ordered Reid to undertake the pro-Social driving course.

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