Cork motorist with no insurance or NCT ‘got a lucky break’ in court

A young motor enthusiast who was stopped while driving without valid insurance or an NCT has had the charges against him struck out in the district court.

Sergeant Trish O’Sullivan told Bantry District Court that a car was stopped by gardaí at Newtown, Bantry, on June 6, 2025, at 9.30pm. The driver of the 04 D reg vehicle was 20-year-old Bryan Tooher, of Kealanine, Coomhola, Bantry.

The court heard that Tooher admitted that he did not have valid insurance to drive the car though he did hold a full driver’s license.

Defence solicitor, Flor Murphy, said Tooher had bought the car just a couple of days previously and was intending to restore it and sell it on for a profit. He said Tooher was on his way with the car to a friend’s garage where he intended to make it roadworthy and then put it through the NCT and get it taxed.

Mr Murphy said Tooher had valid insurance on his own vehicle but had not extended it to the new car which he should have done when he was moving it to the garage. The court was told Tooher had no previous convictions of any kind.

Judge Joanne Carroll said that she noted Tooher was a young man with no previous convictions and she said that on the night in question she did not believe Tooher’s actions were intentional.

She said she would strike out the charges “by the skin of his teeth” and warned Tooher to keep his car insurance matters in order in future because “you got a lucky break today”.

Funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme