NCT won’t release report on car in fatal road crash
Applus Car Testing Service, the firm which oversees the State’s National Car Testing System has refused to release the test sheet result, citing data protection legislation.
Paula Murphy, from Farranree in Cork, who is convinced her daughter was driving a “deathtrap”, has pleaded with the firm to release the report on compassionate grounds.
“I have to continue doing everything I can to get this report so I can leave Amanda to rest. It would be closure for me,” Paula said.
She called for a change in data protection laws to ensure the next-of-kin dealing with tragic circumstances can get access to such reports.
Her daughter, Amanda O’Flaherty, 26, who lived in Cobh, suffered devastating injuries in a two-vehicle crash near Cobh on December 29, 2012. An inquest at Cork City Coroner’s Court heard evidence that the 95-D registered Mazda 121 she was driving that night was not roadworthy.
A Garda public service vehicle inspector found defects in its rear suspension, which, he said, would have made the vehicle unstable before and during cornering.
Amanda had bought the car six months earlier from a man in Cork for €600. The man had arranged for it to undergo an NCT on May 31, 2012, and a certificate was issued.
Ms Murphy asked him to request the NCT test sheet, but the NCT found he was not the registered owner of the car at the time of the test.
A spokesperson for the NCT said while they are very sympathetic to Ms Murphy’s situation, data protection laws prevent the release of such test results to anyone other than the registered owner.
The man who sold the car has told the Irish Examiner he cannot remember who owned the car when he presented it for the NCT. He has engaged a solicitor.
