A SCHOOL secretary has been given the chance to avoid hefty fines and conviction for 520 unpaid trips on the M50.
Six motorists were hit with court fines totalling €56,000 after failing to turn up to face charges for repeatedly dodging M50 tolls.
Some 22 motorists had been summonsed to appear at Dublin District Court, and prosecutions against seven of them went ahead.
Six motorists failed to show up but were given hefty fines, ranging between €5,000 and €15,000, in their absence and ordered to pay €350 in prosecution costs.
Meanwhile, school secretary Jessica Brewer, of Latchford Close, Clonee, Dublin, had the highest number of unpaid tolls of the defendants listed, 520 over a three-year period.
She came to court and wept as she told Judge Anthony Halpin it happened because she was unwell last year and feared a recorded conviction could jeopardise career plans. Like all defendants in the list, she was prosecuted on five sample counts.
After listening to her story, the judge said: “You can’t get feathers off a frog’s back,” adding she did not have the money.
He ordered her to pay €500 to the motorway operator and a further €100 toward prosecution costs. He adjourned the case until July, when the case will be struck out with no record if she has paid by then.
The court heard she had paid for 39 trips each costing €3.10 but another 520 were unpaid.
She admitted she had been the driver and was responsible but she has since set up a toll tag and is now paying when she uses the motorway.