A MOTORIST who failed his 10th driving test last month appeared in court yesterday to contest his latest flounder.
Ray Heffernan (61), from Mayfield in Cork, failed to notice a roundabout he drove over and clocked up five potentially dangerous faults, 19 serious faults and two minor faults when he took his test in Cork city on May 25th last.
Driving for 44 years, this was Mr Heffernan’s 10th failed test and he took his case to Cork District Court to rule on whether the test was properly conducted.
Representing himself, Mr Heffernan told the court the fault marks on his grade sheet were “totally wrong”. “This never happened, it couldn’t have happened,” he said, holding up the test sheet.
Driving tester Kevin Condren said he was in potential danger in the car on at least five occasions during the test. Mr Heffernan drove through stop signs, failed to signal, failed to respond to instructions, over-revved the car and his observation was particularly poor, Mr Condren said.
After instructing him to take the second exit off a mini roundabout, Mr Heffernan drove through the roundabout before asking, “So where is this mini roundabout?”
Defending his ability to drive, Mr Heffernan said 44 years driving “speaks for itself”. “It’s absolutely amazing that no accident occurred and I am 44 years driving.”
Mr Heffernan said this was his seventh appeal against a failed test and “this injustice had gone on long enough”. He said he had been blacklisted by testers.
Judge Tim Lucey ruled the test was marked correctly and refused Mr Heffernan’s appeal. “If one Grade 3 fault is enough to fail, then five is plenty. As far as I’m concerned, the test was properly conducted,” he said.