Liam Twomey (Fine Gael)

The Minister of State has some details of this case before him. It concerns two South African doctors who are in practice together in South Africa. They rotate through this country, alternating between South Africa and Ireland where they provide an out-of-hours service for Caredoc in County Wexford. They have been providing a fantastic service with Caredoc in the county for the past five or six years. While working in Ireland they also share a car which is registered in one doctor's name. When one doctor was in South Africa, however, the other doctor - who is also insured to drive the car - incurred penalty points. When the notice regarding penalty points was sent, it was addressed to the doctor who had gone back to South Africa. As the Minister of State may be aware, the envelope that arrived to the house gave no indication to the other doctor that this was an urgent matter that required immediate attention. When the doctor who was the registered owner of the car came back from South Africa six to eight weeks later, he had clearly gone beyond the period during which he could change the fixed penalty points to the person who had been driving the car. In the intervening period, he incurred a significant fine for not paying the initial fixed charge.

Is there some process whereby the actual driver of the car can take the penalty points and pay the initial fine rather than the onus being put on the doctor who had returned to South Africa and was completely unaware that such a fine was in his post back in Ireland?