Brazilian jockey fined €200 for driving uninsured Audi in Bandon

A Brazilian freelance jockey was fined €200 after an automatic number‑plate recognition alert showed the Audi he was driving in Bandon had no insurance.

Jose Otaviano Rodrigues Alves, 50, of Railway Cottage, Upton, pleaded guilty at Kinsale District Court sitting in Bandon. Gardaí stopped a black Audi A4 at the Circle K garage in Ballylangley, Bandon, at 6.30 pm on 5 June after the ANPR system flagged the vehicle.

An insurance disc for another vehicle, which had expired in November 2025, was displayed on the car, but Gardaí established there was no insurance policy in place for the Audi. The vehicle was detained and released the following day.

Defence solicitor Plunkett Taaffe said his client had worked as a freelance jockey in Ireland for three years and had no previous convictions, adding that Alves was “going through a cash‑flow crisis” at the time. He said the jockey immediately paid to have the vehicle released and took out insurance the next day.

Judge Joanne Carroll convicted Alves, fined him €200 and allowed four months for payment, warning that a further conviction for driving without insurance would result in a mandatory driving disqualification.

Source: Irish Examiner. Photo: Radu Daniel ( MRD ) / Pexels.