THE parish hall inquiry system was criticised in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday when a persistent careless driver lost his licence.

Dominic Anthony Shane Volante (18), of Le Squez Estate, St Clement, was disqualified from driving for three months and fined a total of £500 for committing four driving offences last month.

The court heard that it was the fourth time that Volante had been reprimanded for driving without due care and attention, yet only the first time he had appeared before the Magistrate’s Court.

‘You have been cautioned three times in one year – this should not have occurred.

The system should not have dealt with you in this way,’ he said.

Although an ardent supporter of the parish hall system, Mr Le Marquand said that by giving Volante small fines and cautions, they had played down the seriousness of his offences.

He said that Volante, who also received a number of speeding fines at parish hall inquiries last year, should have been sent to court after his second offence, not his sixth.