This is a very, very old article.
The same story is covered in the Independent and The Irish Times.
The 61-year old plasterer, Raymond Hefferman, has failed 10 tests since 2004. The Irish system means he can still drive on a provisional licence.
Hefferman took his latest result to a district court in an attempt to have the result reversed. His examiner/instructor on test recorded 26 faults, which included driving straight through a STOP sign and through a mini-roundabout.
He also failed to signal, ignored instructions, over-revved, and didn’t check around him properly (his observations were “particularly poor”, said the examiner).
Apparently, after being told where to go on the mini-roundabout, Hefferman drove straight over it and then said:
So where is this mini roundabout?
His defence seemed to rest solely on the fact that he has been driving for 44 years (I’ve mentioned previously how lax the Irish system used to be – and yet Irish drivers can come over to the UK or any other EU territory and drive without hindrance).
This was his seventh appeal against a result! He said:
this injustice had gone on long enough.
He has been blacklisted by driving testers.
The Judge, Tim Lucey, said:
If one Grade 3 fault is enough to fail, then five is plenty. As far as I’m concerned, the test was properly conducted.
Way to go, Judge. We need people like you over here.