Driver disqualified for being double drink-drive limit in Ballyshannon

An English driver was fined €500 and disqualified from driving for two years, after he was found to be more than double the drink-driving limit in Ballyshannon.

Gerard Gittens, 49, of Langley Avenue, Surbiton, UK, appeared at Ballyshannon District Court, held at Ballyshannon Courthouse, before Judge Éiteáin Cunningham, and pleaded guilty to two charges. Gittens was not represented by a defence solicitor.

Judge Cunningham fined Gittens €250, payable within five months, and disqualified him from driving for two years, for an offence on July 8, 2026, at Saimer Drive, Ballyshannon, where he drove a vehicle while there was a quantity of alcohol present in his body within three hours after driving, to wit, 51 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath, that did exceed the concentration of 22 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath, contrary to Section 4(4)(a) & (5) of the Road Traffic Act 2010.

Gittens was given the same punishment for driving a vehicle in a manner (including speed) which, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, was dangerous to the public or was likely to be dangerous to the public, contrary to Section 53(1) of the Road Traffic Act 1961 as substituted by Section 4 of the Road Traffic Act (No. 2) Act 2011.

Gardaí at court told Judge Cunningham that at a checkpoint in Ballyshannon, a “vehicle came through the roadworks on the Bundoran Road, and a noise that sounded like the car collided with something.

Upon the vehicle being stopped, the court heard that Gittens “was intoxicated and his speech was slurred,” and was taken to a Garda Station upon arrest.

The court heard that Gittens had no previous convictions in this jurisdiction, but had two previous convictions in a different jurisdiction, to which Judge Cunningham said she could not consider that in her judgement.