TD calls for legislation on selling ‘company’ cars

A Cork TD has pledged to tackle the sale of so-called ‘company cars’ following a horror crash in his community which claimed the life of one teenager and left teen fighting for his life.

A Cork TD has pledged to tackle the sale of so-called ‘company cars’ following a horror crash in his community which claimed the life of one teenager and left a teen fighting for his life.

Sinn Féin’s Thomas Gould, the first TD from Knocknaheeny, on Cork’s northside, said a system which allows the sale of cars to teenagers must be tightened, and must include tough penalties for unscrupulous vendors.

“It has been done in the area of unaccompanied learner drivers and it can be done in this area too,” said Mr Gould.

He made his comments as friends of car crash victim Kimberly O’Connor, 16, gathered at her school yesterday to mourn her.

Kimberly, from Harbour View Rd, Knocknaheeny, died when the car in which she was a passenger crashed into a wall close to her home on Wednesday. Gardaí believe the 19-year-old Seat Toledo was a so-called company car which had been bought in recent weeks for as little as €200.

It is believed a 16-year-old boy was at the wheel at the time of the crash. Gardaí are working to trace the last registered owner of the car, and to establish where it had been stored, and who had been using it.

Mr Gould, a former city councillor, has been very outspoken in recent years about a spike in joyriding across the city’s northside.

A garda initiative, Operation Joyrider, targeted several ringleaders last year, with several brought before the courts.

Mr Gould said the use of “company cars” is on the increase with many teenagers attracted to ‘buying in’ on such cars because there is no need to steal a car.

He said “robust and targeted legislation” must now be considered to clamp down on the system and on unscrupulous vendors.

“We must come up with a solution and if we need new legislation, then we will draft it,” he said.

“But it must be something that will work. This can’t just be for the sake of optics. We will talk to the gardaí and ask them what they need, we will talk to the motor industry and whoever else we need to, to ensure that if we bring in new laws, that they will be enforceable.

“We must also introduce severe penalties to hold accountable those who sell these types of cars to novice drivers or provisional licence holders.

“We have a motor tax database and an NCT database. It shouldn’t be that difficult to set up a system to prevent these company car type sales.”

Gardaí have renewed their appeal for witnesses to the crash to contact them.It is hoped that CCTV footage from a number of buildings in the area around the crash site could shed light on what happened.

Details of Kimberly’s funeral were announced last night.

Her remains will repose at O’Connor Brothers Funeral Home, North Gate Bridge, with rosary at 5pm on Sunday and removal at 7pm on Monday to St Mary’s on the Hill Church, Knocknaheeny. Requiem Mass is at 12pm on Wednesday, with burial afterwards in St Catherine’s, Kilcully.