A Judge has fined a Letterkenny bus operator €750 for having an unfit public vehicle.
Letterkenny court.
Gardai inspected the bus belonging to Cathal McGettigan and found it had a bald tyre and that its emergency door was jammed.
As a result they took it to the local vehicle inspection centre where a total of 29 faults were discovered.
Mr McGettigan, of Fair Green, Letterkenny, appeared yesterday at Letterkenny District Court charged with one count of having an unfit vehicle.
The incident happened on May 28th, 2013 at Glencar but there were not children on board at the time.
The bus was being driven by a man named in court as Liam Molloy.
McGettigan had 11 prior convictions including offences for not having insurance and not possession a public vehicle license.
Solicitor Niall Sheridan said his client had the vehicle tested the previous month and it had passed the test.
In relation to the jammed emergency door, Mr Sheridan added that there was an issue with some children opening the emergency door previously.
Judge Paul Kelly asked if the door had been jammed on purpose but he was told there was no proof of this.
Judge Kelly said “There is a daily onus on someone bringing children to school to make sure it is safe.
“This could have had catastrophic consequnces if something had happened and the emergency door was jammed,” he said.
He asked if McGettigan’s company was still transporting children to school and this was confirmed in court by Mr Sheridan.
Judge Kelly said he was surprised the penalties for such incident were so modest.