A 25-year-old man from Portadown has been given six penalty points and fined after admitting to careless driving on the Northway earlier this year.

Jan Andersson, of West Street, did not attend Craigavon Magistrates Court but his solicitor entered guilty pleas to charges of driving without due care and attention and having no valid vehicle test certificate.

The court heard that on February 5, police observed a BMW being driven at 80mph in the outside lane. Officers followed and saw the vehicle then undertake another car which had stopped at a red traffic light.

When stopped, checks showed the test certificate for the vehicle had expired.

Andersson’s solicitor, Philip Reid, told the court his client had been returning home early from work due to a flare-up of an illness. He said Andersson accepted he was travelling too fast and undertook the other vehicle.

The defence highlighted two previous convictions for careless driving, one of which led to an eight-month ban, but noted there had been no further offending since 2003.

Mr Reid said Andersson works as an IT consultant, commuting daily to Glengormley, and is applying for a PhD in artificial intelligence at Queen’s University. Losing his licence would risk his employment, the solicitor added.

District Judge Michael Ranaghan described the offending as not the worst of its kind. He imposed six penalty points on Andersson’s licence, a fine of £150 for each offence, and a £15 offender levy.