A BANDON mum-of-two was stopped by gardaí after an Automated Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) alert showed that she had no tax or NCT on her car.

Lisa Patricia O’Shea (34) of 15 Cedar Views, Tanners Field, Coolfada, Bandon, who was a learner driver at the time, pleaded guilty at Bandon District Court to driving unaccompanied and having no tax or NCT.

Sgt Tom Mulcahy told the court that at 5.12pm on October 19th last Sgt Coholan was on patrol on North Main Street when an ANPR alert he received indicated the car was not taxed and didn’t hold a valid NCT certificate.

‘She was aware of the defaults and the tax was out since April of that year and the NCT was also out while she wasn’t displaying Learner plates and was not accompanied by a qualified driver,’ said Sgt Mulcahy.

The court heard that fixed charged notices were sent for all offences but were not paid.

Defence solicitor Plunkett Taaffe said his client is a mum of two and later sold the car for scrap.

‘She was going through a bad patch but is currently working as a receptionist. She only has a provisional driving licence and may get a disqualification as she has three penalty points,’ said Mr Taaffe, who asked the court to be as lenient as possible.

Judge Andrew Cody convicted and fined her €100 on each of the charges with the total amounting to €400, and he gave her six months to pay the fine.