Driver fined £150 for breaching lights

Mark Murray (29), of Dunleath Avenue, Cookstown, also received three penalty points and was ordered to pay a £15 offender levy on a charge of breaching a traffic sign.

The court was told that police were stopped at the Sweep Road traffic lights at 12.55am on October 27 last.

Prosecution counsel said as police turned left when the lights were changing from red to green they observed a car coming from the direction of Dungannon, which did not make any attempt to slow down.

She said police followed the car and issued the defendant with a fixed penalty but on October 28 he came to the police station and said he did not accept it.

A defence lawyer said Murray should have accepted the fixed penalty but instead had made matters worse for himself. He said at the station the defendant had “a difference of minds” with the officer and left.