A JUDGE described as ‘completely unbelievable’ claims that a driver wasn’t aware of the number of defects with his truck.

Judge Joanne Carroll made the comment to Desmond Breen at Bandon District Court after hearing that the cab was not securely fixed to the truck and the brake pipes had excessive corrosion while a garda said the truck was in a ‘exceptionally poor condition.’

Mr Breen, of Forest Lodge, Gortnavickory, Lemmybrien, Waterford pleaded guilty to driving a defective vehicle, careless driving, having no NCT or tax and using green diesel when he was stopped by gardaí on March 24th 2025.

A charge of keeping green diesel was withdrawn by the State.

Gda Joe Tippins told the court that at 9.30am he was operating a checkpoint at Ballindenisk, Belgooly when a truck approached and he noticed a number of defective issues with it.

‘The power steering was leaking fuel and the brake pipes had excessive corrosion while the front brake was excessively worn. The cab was not securely fixed to the truck and there was rust it also,’ said Gda Tippins.

He said there was no heater in the cabin and there was excessive movement in the steering wheel.

Reverse lights were not working and when a brake test was carried out it was 30% above the failure rate.

‘The truck was in exceptional poor condition,’ he added.

Judge Carroll said if the cab was loose then it could have fallen off.

Gda Tippins said the tax on the truck had expired by over a year and the certificate of road worthiness was out a number of years. He said the defendant drove over 100km that day from Waterford to Belgooly.

The court heard that he eight previous convictions including Social Welfare fraud from 2025.

His solicitor Plunkett Taaffe said: ‘He had a seed dressing machine on the back of the truck after being asked to drive to Belgooly. He was not conscious of the defects in his truck,’ said Mr Taaffe.

Judge Carroll said it is ‘completely unbelievable’ that the defendant wasn’t aware of defects in the truck.

Mr Taaffe said his client had spent €5,900 on repairs but then realised it was uneconomical to keep it.

Judge Carroll convicted him of driving a defective vehicle and sentenced him to three months which she suspended for 18 months.

She fined him €2,500 for using green diesel, €800 for having no NCT or tax and €200 for careless driving.

‘To my mind this is the worst case of driving a dangerous defective vehicle,’ added Judge Carroll.