Fines totalling €9,000 have been handed down to a Donegal haulage company over a series of road safety breaches.
The case of Pat McGowan Transport, of Cappry, Ballybofey, was heard before Letterkenny District Court.
The charges, relating to incidents in May, 2023 and October, 2025, involved vehicles being driven without a driver card being used.
Charges were brought against Pat McGowan Transport and against Pat McGowan himself by the Road Safety Authority (RSA). Pleas to sample charges were accepted on a full facts basis while the court was told that charges against John McGowan, the company’s transport manager, were withdrawn in light of the pleas being entered.
An inspector from the RSA told the court that a routine inspection was organised in June, 2023 and there was a later inspection to discuss the findings.
Outlining the evidence to the State Solicitor for Donegal, Mr Kieran Dillon, the inspector said that there were some “irregularities” found in terms of the use of a driver’s card. The court heard that there were discrepancies on three vehicles, which were being driven without a card at different times.
On May 6, 2023 a vehicle was being driven for three hours and 47 minutes with no card. Pat McGowan informed an RSA official that a driver had called in sick and he had to complete the run.
On May 30, 2023, a vehicle was driven for 55 minutes without a card. John McGowan advised the official that the truck in question was being used in the company yard as a “shunter” during that time.
“Fifty-five minutes is a lot of driving for a yard that size,” the RSA official told the court.
The official said that in September 2023, he and another RSA inspector entered the premises at Cappry, where they showed their ID cards and warrant of appointment. They were met by John McGowan and advised that they need to obtain answers formally. However, Pat McGowan told them during the meeting: “If you carry on asking stupid questions, I’m not going to answer them.”
The official said that the interview continued in that vein.
He said that Pat McGowan came into the room and told the RSA officer that he had “an awful attitude.”
When informed that the RSA wished to put questions to them about vehicles being driven without a driver card, the reply was that these questions were already answered by email.
The official told the court that “things got fairly aggressive and the conversation became heated” at this point. The RSA officer said he had “no option but to withdraw from the premises”.
He added: “In 19 years as an enforcement officer, that was the first time that I had to leave because of attitude and lack of cooperation”.
The officer added that he was invited to leave the premises and was “more or less escorted” off.
The court heard that John McGowan attended the RSA office in Donegal Town and “things were improved” during that meeting.
Some days later, vehicles were brought to the Sligo Test Centre.
“There was full engagement after the initial issues,” the officer told the court.
Another officer gave evidence of another case against Pat McGowan Transport and driver Francois Fourie.
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The RSA attended a multi-agency checkpoint at Ballymun, Dublin with the Roads Policing Unit on October 21, 2025. He observed a vehicle, which was being driven by Fourie.
The driver advised that he didn’t have a licence on him, but had a photograph of his South African licence. He told RSA officers that he was awaiting his Irish driving licence.
When asked why there was no driver card in the vehicle, Fourie said he didn’t have one. He said there was a delay in obtaining his Irish license and, in the interim, was making print-outs.
Fourie was cautioned and told RSA officials that he was driving the vehicle for “considerable periods of time” over “several months”.
He said he made print-outs every day for the driving he was doing, which involved taking milk from Donegal to Dublin.
When officials from the RSA called to the company headquarters at Cappry, John McGowan informed them that there was a significant delay in getting a driver card due to the ongoing delay with transferring a licence.
The RSA official told the court that while there was an attempt to make manual records, the requirements do not allow for this.
“It is purely a temporary measure and it is very difficult to quantify what driving anyone is going when they are not using a driver card.
Solicitor Ms Donna Ferry told the court that Mr McGowan accepted responsibility and was entering pleas. She said the company was founded in 1986 by Pat McGowan, who is now 72, and is a significant local employer, with approximately 47 people working there.
She said that neither Mr McGowan nor the company have no previous convictions and asked the court to take into account the acceptance of responsibility and the previous good character.
She added that the company has a system in place which tracks drivers’ infringements. The court was informed that the company recruited the driver from South Africa during a time when there was a driver shortage. She said the company took care of booking flights and organising a VISA, but there was a significant delay in obtaining a Driver CPC (Certificate of Professional Competence) card and they were struggling to find a qualified driver.
Mr Dillon said that the maximum penalty on each charge was a €5,000 fine or six months imprisonment.
Judge Emile Daly enquired as to the means of the company and was told that it had a €6m turnover with a 10% profit margin.
Judge Daly said there was a distinction to be made between the operator of the company and the driver. Judge Daly noted the lack of cooperation from Pat McGowan when a State official arrived to deal with the matter.
“The statutory officer had every right to be there and ask the questions that he was asking,” Judge Daly said. “The fact that he had to leave doesn’t reflect very well.
“The regulations are there to protect the driving hours of workers in charge of very significant vehicles, size-wise, and to protect other road users. This is something very important and it is very important that it is regulated.”
Judge Daly said that fines had to be a deterrent and dissuade similar incidents from happening again.
On two charges relating to the absence of a driver card from the May, 2023 matters, Judge Daly issued fines of €2,000 to Pat McGowan Transport. For a charge of obstructing the RSA official, Pat McGowan was fined €1,000. Judge Daly allowed six months for the fines to be paid.
Regarding the second matter from October 2025, Judge Daly said that, given the other matter had arisen, the company “hadn’t learned its lesson”.
On two similar charges relating to the absence of a driver card, the company was fined €2,000 and given six months to pay.
Fourie, meanwhile, was fined a total of €300 on two charges relating to having no driver card.