Judge says slow drivers "are idiots"

A judge in the Irish Republic has told a court that motorists should assume any slow driver who holds them up to be an idiot.

Judge Willam Harnett told a Dublin motorist who undertook a slow-moving car on the hard shoulder after being stuck in a tailback for several miles, he sympathised with his actions.

He told 24-year-old Keith Kirwan that although he was wrong he was obviously ” caught behind a person whose driving merited a charge of driving without reasonable consideration. ”

Judge Harnett went on to say he was familiar with what he called ” people who loiter on public roads ” and branded them ” a menace ” at Thomastown District Court in Count Kilkenny, adding he thought they either enjoyed holding up other people, were incompetent, or their cars were in poor condition.