Ireland: Hibernian awards Ireland’s best young driver

Hibernian Insurance today (Friday, 25 April) awarded the top prize of a car and one year’s free motor insurance to Ireland’s most skilled and safest young driver, Adam Walsh (21) from Limerick following a day-long driving skills competition at Citywest, Dublin.

Adam competed in today’s event to win the prize of a Ford Fiesta Finesse as part of a group of ten young people, all top scorers in Hibernian’s Ignition course during 2002. Each of the ten have benefited from cheaper motor insurance from Hibernian as a result of taking part in Ignition. Ignition is a one-day driver training course that has been specially tailored for less experienced drivers and which demonstrates Hibernian’s dedication to reducing motor insurance costs, as well as improving the standard of driving on Irish roads.

The group of ten were put through their motoring paces at Citywest today by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) UK, recognised experts in advanced driver training and the organisation also responsible for running Hibernian’s regular Ignition courses.

Ignition was originally launched in August 2001 as an 18-month pilot programme. It proved so successful that in January of this year Hibernian launched Ignition officially, with an additional 20,000 places on the scheme for 2003 - increasing to 25,000 the number of places available across Ireland. Irish footballer Damien Duff was also brought on board in order to publicise the course.

Speaking following the awarding of the prize to Adam Walsh, Hibernian’s head of marketing Ciarán Mahon, said: "Huge congratulations to Adam, he did really well in the face of stiff competition from a group of excellent young drivers. Today was about highlighting the benefits of Ignition, but also about rewarding responsible driving".

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Press contact: Kela O’Riordan, 01 617 8164, 086 606 8842, kela.oriordan@hibernian.ie

Notes to editors:

Hibernian Ignition

• Ignition allows inexperienced drivers to get a minimum motor insurance discount of 20% (up to a maximum of 40% for exceptional driving skill) by successfully completing a one-day driver training course.
• The Ignition course combines an interactive “classroom” session with on-road training, designed to accelerate the driver’s experience. The course focuses very much on hazard awareness and encourages participation from all delegates in discussions about safety and driving habits.
• Applicants for Ignition must have a full clean driving license; they must also own or be seeking to buy, in the next six months, a vehicle of 1400cc or less.
• Ignition is open to all individuals who meet the qualifying criteria, whether they have been customers of Hibernian or not.
• Candidates can also opt for an additional 10% discount for voluntarily refraining from driving between the hours of 11pm and 6am.
• Hibernian covers the full cost of the training and cars are provided by the IAM for delegate’s use on the day.
• A refundable fee of €225 is charged to delegates to prevent absenteeism.
• The scheme is run at the following venues - Dublin North, South and West, Cork, Galway, Kilkenny, Waterford, Sligo, Mullingar, Dundalk, Limerick, Gorey and Letterkenny.
• Potential delegates for Ignition should contact their own insurance provider, broker, Hibernian branch or phone Hibernian on 1890 33 22 11. An insurance quotation can be provided before committing to attend the course. Details can also be obtained at Hibernian’s website at www.hibernian.ie.

The Hibernian Group

• Hibernian is part of Aviva plc the fifth largest insurance group in Europe, and seventh globally (based on gross worldwide premia)
• Hibernian is Ireland’s largest composite insurer, ranked first for general insurance and top five for life and pensions
• Photographs from the Driver of the Year Awards and the launch with Damien Duff are available by ISDN
• Hibernian news releases are also available on www.hibernian.ie