JUDGMENT HAS been reserved in the case of Galway-based bus company Citylink, which denies two charges brought against it by the DPP for operating a daily non-stop bus service between Dublin and Galway without a licence.
Singapore-based company Comfortdelgro Ltd, which owns Citylink, with registered offices at Galway Tourist Office, Forster Street, Galway, is denying it operated an unlicensed non-stop bus service on October 16th last year.
Public Service Vehicle inspector, Sgt Tony McHugh, gave evidence at Galway District Court yesterday of receiving a complaint which the Department of Transport made to gardaí in Galway on October 14th last about the non-stop service.
He went online and booked a return ticket to Dublin with Citylink for October 16th. Sgt McHugh said he travelled on a Citylink bus on that date from Galway to Dublin and back, and there were no stops made in any town or village along the way.
He handed his e-ticket and a certificate from the Department of Transport into court which indicated, he said, that Citylink did not have a licence to bring passengers non-stop from Galway to Dublin and back on that date.
Defence counsel Giollaíosa O Lideadha said the certificate handed into court made an assertion that on October 22nd, 2009, the company was not the holder of a licence, but the date given in direct evidence by Sgt McHugh was October 16th.
The certificate therefore, he said, did not purport to be proof that the trip on the date referred to in the proceedings was not covered by a licence.
Insp Pat McHugh, prosecuting, said Citylink was not the holder of an annual passenger licence, and that the licence the company did hold stipulated it must make scheduled stops at designated towns on the route. He emphasised the company did not have a “non-stop” licence.
Mr O Lideadha said the prosecution had not put forward evidence to prove the firm did not have other licences to operate the service.
“The Garda evidence is that on a particular day the service was not covered by a licence, and handing in a licence does not preclude us from having other licences,” Mr O Lideadha said.
Judge Mary Fahy said she needed time to read the relevant legislation, and reserved judgment to April 28th.