A TRUCK driver has been given permission by the High Court to challenge a determination that he be put off the road after accumulating 12 penalty points on his driver's licence within three years, on the grounds that two of the points were sustained outside that time period.
John Fahy, Cregduff, Ballinrobe, Co Mayo, was yesterday granted leave by the High Court to judicially review a determination by the Minister for Justice and the Road Safety Authority that he receive a six-month disqualification from driving in accordance with provisions of the Road Traffic Act 2002.
The Act states that any motorist who receives 12 penalty points in any three-year period will be automatically penalised with a six-month driving ban.
In his action Mr Fahy claims that two penalty points he received in August 2005 should not have been counted because the offence occurred outside the three-year period.
Mr Fahy says that those points were recorded on his licence in late February 2006, some six months after the offence had been dealt with.
He claims that the six-month period represents a failure by the defendants to properly process the application of the penalty points he received.
He also claims they are guilty of an unreasonable and an inordinate delay.
He argues that the determination that the two points come within the three-year period is not legally valid, and he is seeking to have that determination quashed.
At the High Court yesterday, Mr Justice Roderick Murphy granted Mr Fahy leave to judicially review the decision to include the two points on the licence within the three-year period.
Mr Justice Murphy also made an order restraining the defendants from disqualifying Mr Fahy from driving until the action has been determined by the High Court.
Mr Fahy feared for his livelihood if the driving ban was imposed, his counsel Diarmuid Connolly told the court.