A 49-year-old man has been fined £160 for having no vehicle tax.

Cathal Anthony Hughes admitted that the tax was more than two years out of date, but said he had been off the island for a long period with the vehicle not being on the road.

Magistrates also ordered him to pay £50 prosecution costs.

Prosecuting advocate Barry Swain told the court that police found Hughes’ Daihatsu Terios in a car park at Bunscoill Rhumsaa in Ramsey on December 20 last year.

The vehicle’s licence had expired in March 2020.

Mr Swain said that the duty lost during the period was £534.

Defence advocate Peter Taylor said that Hughes had been living off the island for more than two years and during that time, the car was parked at his mother’s property, not on public land.

Hughes said he had then returned to the island and insured the vehicle but found that, to get the road tax, it would have to go through a vehicle examination test.

He said that he had had it towed to the car park where he intended to work on it.

Mr Taylor said that the Terios was now in the vehicle pound and it was unlikely that Hughes, who lives at Mooragh Promenade in Ramsey, would get it back on the road.

However, the advocate said that if an order was made to pay the £534 duty, the case would have to be adjourned, so that Hughes could obtain statements confirming it had not been on the road during his absence.

Magistrates ordered him to pay the fine and costs at a rate of £10 per week, deducted from benefits, but made no order regarding the lost duty.