Mobile phone man told police he wasn't driving at the time

Patrick McCusker (39) , Ballynagarrick Road, Portadown was fined £100 last Thursday at Banbridge Magistrates Court for using a mobile phone while he was driving.

He was also given three points and ordered to pay a £15 offender’s levy. For not having a licence he was fined £100 with three points.

On December 22 last year police saw the driver of a van with a phone in his left hand to his left ear. When they were coming back he still had the phone in his hand and was still talking.

Police spoke to him at Kiln Court, Banbridge, and he said: “I was just about to put it down.”

He was offered a fixed penalty but did not accept it claiming he wasn’t driving. Further inquiries revealed his licence had expired on June 20, 2016 and not renewed.

McCusker did not appear at court and was convicted in his absence.