Limerick transport firm fined €5,000 over road safety breaches including misuse of lost driver card

A Limerick-based haulage firm was fined €5,000 after admitting safety violations, including a driver card used 131 times after being reported lost.

Limerick haulier fined after 'lost' driver card used 131 times over six months

Eamonn Barrett International Transport Limited has been fined €5,000 following a prosecution at Newcastle West District Court, after the company admitted multiple breaches of road safety regulations, limerickleader.ie reports.

The company, registered at Kilbeha, Askeaton, pleaded guilty to seven sample charges from a total of 18 before the court. The case arose from an RSA investigation launched just over 12 months ago.

An RSA inspector told the court that the investigation began after a company vehicle was stopped at a routine checkpoint on the outskirts of Athlone, County Westmeath, on 1 September 2025. When the driver presented his driver card, inspectors established it had been reported lost a year earlier and was not valid on the date of the stop.

RSA inspectors subsequently visited the company's offices in January of this year, examining documentation and records. Solicitor Aidan Judge, representing the Road Safety Authority, told Judge Valerie Corcoran that the guilty plea was accepted on the basis that the full facts would be outlined to the court.

Among the breaches identified were a failure to download tachograph data — a legal obligation — and multiple instances of drivers exceeding their permitted daily driving limits. The court also heard that the driver card presented at the Athlone checkpoint had been used on 131 occasions over a six-month period following the date it was reported missing.

Company owner Eamonn Barrett gave evidence and accepted he "should have been more diligent" in monitoring drivers and truck movements. He attributed the period of non-compliance to the departure of an office manager who relocated to Australia. "It was difficult to replace her and I tried to manage as best as possible," Barrett told solicitor Eamonn Dillon.

Barrett told the court he has since taken corrective steps, including engaging a third-party supplier to download and analyse all tachograph data. The three drivers specifically identified during the RSA investigation no longer work for the company, he added.

Imposing sentence, Judge Corcoran said she was required to treat the breaches seriously, but acknowledged that strong mitigating factors existed in the case.

Source: Google News IE — Crime (en)