Unemployed PSV driver fined $400

A ZR driver who told the court he had not worked since the COVID-19 lockdown, will have one month to find $400.

If he fails to come up with the money, Ian Lovell will spend 30 days in HMP Dodds.

When he appeared in the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court today, Lovell pleaded guilty to two traffic offences dating back over a year.

He admitted to driving ZR331 on Green Hill, St Michael, a route other than that specified on the permit and that he was playing music on the route taxi at the time, both on November 25, 2019.

Magistrate Alison Burke reprimanded and discharged him on the first offence after Lovell explained that he plied the route from Bridgetown to Jackson and therefore had to pass Green Hill.

However, Lovell said while he knew it was illegal to play music on the route taxi he sometimes played the radio.

He said he did not play it loudly and if any passenger complained or asked him to turn it off he would do so.

But the magistrate told him that it was against the law to do so, whether a passenger complained or not.

She then fined him $400 to be paid by January 7, 2021.