High-flyer escapes driving ban

Editorial Department • Published 12 Jan 2012 13:00 0 Comments

Dear Sir, - I was absolutely appalled to read the report in your newspaper about Marco Pagni, the so-described "high-flying business executive" who escaped a driving ban after being caught travelling at almost twice the general speed limit in his Porche sports car. In view of his previous record of penalty points, justice would have dictated that he lose his licence - the fact that Pagni's job required him to undertake a very substantial amount of travel each year is neither here nor there.

There are many of our fellow citizens who quite rightly have lost their licences in the past and whose jobs depended on their abilty to drive. Why should this man have been treated any differently? He shouldn't have been, but I'll tell you why - he was perceived as a member of the higher echelons of society and thus was regarded more sympathetically than if he were some poor sucker living on a National Minimum Wage. One law for the rich and one for the poor - the old adage about sauce, the goose and the gander should apply, but sadly in this case it didn't.

Of course, our local court has a track record of such warped thinking. I recall the case in the 1980s where another "high flyer" travelling at over 100mph was discharged, having been told by the magistrate that he was a "pillar of society". As for the £500 fine imposed on Pagni - for someone who allegedly earns over a million pounds per year and can afford to drive a Porsche, a penalty of this magnitude is laughable - a drop in the ocean to him. According to the Belfast Telegraph, the judiciary in Fermanagh has warned in the past that anyone exceeding 100mph would automatically lose their licence for a period. The magistrate thus fell short of his responsibility and should be hanging his head in shame. To quote Dickens, he law indeed is an ass - do we really need cases like this to remind us of that fact?

Yours faithfully,

Dr William Holmes

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This letter appeared in Impartial Reporter 12 Jan 12

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