A driver caught by police doing 73mph in a 40mph zone on the Mountain Road at Hillberry was trying to clear an annoying misfire on his car, a court has heard.
Darren Hockey of Windsor Road in Ramsey was stopped by police for speeding on March 20.
Admitting the offence by a coroner’s admission, he told the court his car had received attention to rectify an intermittent faltering as he accelerated. He said he was travelling from home towards Douglas and would normally have used the coast road but chose to go over the mountain so he could open the car up and see if the fault was cured.
But in a statement read out in court, he said he had been caught behind slow moving traffic and the first opportunity he had to test the car was on the approach to Hillberry. He said the slow moving vehicles had turned off the mountain road at the Creg-ny-Baa and the road after Brandish was completely clear.
Taking his chance, he had accelerated to warm the engine through and see if the faltering persisted. But just as he passed through the 40mph limit he said the police had appeared and stopped him. The 51-year-old said he had never had any intention of breaking the speed limit. The court heard he had held a clean licence for many years.
Passing sentence, magistrates’ chairman Julian Ashcroft said he accepted a financial penalty was appropriate.
He was fined £330 for speeding, his licence was endorsed with eight points and he must pay £50 costs.