Q My wife and I intend to travel around northern Scotland for two weeks next year. After driving from Berkshire, the plan is to hire a fancy convertible — such as a Mini, an Audi or a Porsche — from a Scottish city. What are the best options and will I be able to leave my own vehicle safely with a hire firm? — BG from Bracknell

A Several companies can rent you an upmarket convertible in Scotland. Luxury Car Hire (www.luxury-carhire. co.uk, 0870 191 6914) has a branch in Edinburgh where you can leave your vehicle, provided it has space. A Porsche Boxster will cost £1,996 for 14 days’ hire.

Alternatively, McKinlay Kidd (www.seescotlanddifferently.co.uk, 08707 606 027) offers two weeks with a Mini Cooper S convertible for £1,300. The firm does not have secure parking but will deliver the car, at no extra charge, to a hotel or airport in mainland Scotland including locations further north, such as Inverness.

Instead of driving your own car to Scotland, Dream Prestige (www.dreamprestige.co.uk, 0845 838 3651) will deliver, say, an Audi RS4 cabriolet to your Berkshire home for about £175 and a two-week rental would then cost a further £2,940. Prices are often negotiable, with bigger discounts the further you book in advance. Always check that the insurance excess is reasonable.

Q I plan to get a vehicle under the Motability scheme, which helps people with disabilities to lease cars using their government mobility allowance. The website gives the costs of each vehicle in the scheme, but I cannot search for a car by listing my requirements. I drive an elderly five-door Toyota RAV4 but can’t afford the Motability deposit for the same vehicle. Could you suggest an alternative? I need an automatic with a high driver’s position, room for a folding wheelchair, and with a modest deposit required. — JB-D from Saundersfoot, Pembrokeshire

A It’s not instantly obvious but the scheme’s website (www.motability.co.uk) does have a facility to refine a search for models of car by specifying various criteria including vehicle type (such as 4x4, estate, or wheelchair accessible), transmission type, or even CO2 emission levels. Try this link to go straight to the web page you need: tinyurl.com/3qjmdm.

The Toyota RAV4 would require a deposit of £3,695 for an XT-R 2 litre auto model. A cheaper option would be the Kia Sportage 2.0 CRDi XE diesel auto, which requires a deposit of £2,695. Or there is the Suzuki Grand Vitara 2 litre 16v auto for £3,080.

An MPV might be another option, such as the Skoda Roomster 2 1.6 litre automatic, which is available without a deposit. Another good choice is the accomplished Ford C-Max Zetec 2 litre petrol auto, which has a deposit of just £750. Finally, consider the Mazda 5.0 TS2 petrol auto, which asks for £1,295 upfront.

Q If I set off a speed camera in France or Italy will it be followed up once I am back in the UK? — BE from Leeds

A If you are stopped for a traffic offence abroad, foreign police can issue on-the-spot fines and even impound the vehicle until you pay. But if you are snapped by a speed camera and have left the country before receiving notice of a fine, this cannot be enforced by the foreign authority for a number of reasons.

Foreign speed cameras cannot automatically identify British registration plates and foreign authorities do not have access to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority’s (DVLA) database of vehicle-keeper information, which includes the contact details they would need to pursue a fine.

That said, some motorists in the UK have received letters demanding the payment of fines incurred in European Union states. This is because the DVLA provides information to British companies contracted by foreign authorities to collect outstanding penalties incurred by British motorists.

However, according to Nick Freeman, a specialist motoring lawyer, such demands cannot be enforced in the UK and you are not obliged to pay. The DVLA information can identify only a car’s registered keeper, not its driver. Only British police can demand that a UK vehicle owner disclose who was driving it at the time of an alleged incident (under section 172 of the Road Traffic Act 1988), so you could refuse to pay on the basis that you were not driving. As far as we are aware, no debt collection agency has taken a British driver to court and recovered a debt incurred as an overseas speeding fine. Freeman also believes the DVLA is in breach of the Data Protection Act in handing out vehicle keeper data (a view the DVLA contests).

This protection may not last for ever. The European Union is considering a proposal to establish a cross-border procedure for enforcing traffic laws, regardless of where a driver lives within the EU. This is likely to lead to more effective enforcement of fines, but should not result in British drivers picking up penalty points abroad.

In the meantime you should be aware that unpaid fines could lie on file and become active if the same car is caught in the same country committing a further offence.

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