Former DUP councillor Luke Poots was handed a four-month driving ban and fined £300 on Friday after a judge convicted him of driving a tractor while using a mobile phone.
Having heard that Poots had driven the New Holland tractor from his home in Lisburn to Craigavon Magistrates Court, District Judge Michael Ranaghan told the 35-year-old his driving disqualification would not start until midnight.
Constable Basson, the front-seat passenger of a marked police car, was the first to give evidence on Friday and he testified that as their police vehicle was driving northbound on the A1, he spotted a New Holland tractor in the distance and could see the driver was on the phone.
As the car approached, he told the prosecutor the view became more clear and he had an instructed view of the driver, a view that was only made better as their vehicle pulled alongside the tractor.
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“We were alongside and he was still on the phone talking,” said the officer, “he wasn’t aware of our presence. He had the mobile phone in his hand and he was talking openly, it wasn’t at his ear,” said the officer, adding that he saw Poots using the phone for up to a minute.
Having used their blue lights and sirens to pull the tractor over, Constable Basson said the defendant accepted he had been talking on the phone but maintained he had been using a hands-free kit.
Defence counsel Conor Coulter put to him that given the distances involved and the height difference between a tractor and a police vehicle he would not have had such a clear view but Constable Basson maintained that he could, highlighting that the tractor cab “it’s all glass, it’s all clear”.
Poots told the judge “I was on the phone with my father” when he saw the police behind him on the carriage way, claiming that DUP MLA Edwin Poots checked with him “‘are you on the hands-free?’ and I said ‘of course’.”
Under cross examination from the prosecution, Poots suggested at one stage that the A1 “is a hotspot for farmers being targeted”.
“By whom,” the lawyer asked and Poots told him “by the PSNI”.
Having imposed the fine and four-month driving ban along with a £15 offender levy, the judge granted bail for an appeal but did not give permission for Poots to drive pending that appeal.
He did, however, defer the ban until midnight to allow him to drive his New Holland tractor to his home at Gardners Road in Lisburn.
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