Cork bus company can avoid defective vehicle conviction with €3k donation to charities

A major bus operator accused of operating a dangerously defective vehicle may have avoided conviction in a district court.

Kyanitedale Ltd, which operates a number of scheduled and hire services, was charged with a single count of driving a dangerously defective vehicle. An additional charge against the driver of the bus was withdrawn.

The charges arose when a bus operated by the company was stopped at Lakeview, Midleton, Co Cork, on September 19, 2024.

The vehicle had a broken window on the rear left side as well as damage to various doors, compartments, and panelling in the same area of the bus. 

Upon inspection, two of the issues discovered came under the category of dangerously defective.

Midleton District Court was told that the company had no previous convictions.

Defence counsel, Stephen Wilson BL for Alex Rafter Solicitors, said the company apologised for the incident. He told the court that there had been an issue with sourcing a replacement window from Spain, which had caused a delay in repairing the bus.

He presented an engineer’s report to the court, which confirmed that all of the issues with the bus had been rectified, and the vehicle was now fully roadworthy and compliant.

Judge Colm Roberts said it seemed the issues were dealt with “after the horse had bolted”, and that safety was the most important thing.

He said the company “should really get a conviction”, but he wanted to encourage improvement around safety issues. Judge Roberts said the bus should not have been on the road.

He said he would be inclined to deal with the matter leniently if the company made a €3,000 donation to road safety charities and could provide verification from the Road Safety Authority that the bus was now roadworthy and compliant. The matter was adjourned to November 6 for finalisation.

• This article is funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme