Proposed MOT changes will cause more death and injury on the roads!In December the Government announced a proposal - which will go to formal consultation this Spring - to change the MOT Test to comply with a less stringent European minimum requirement: the first Test after four years and every two years thereafter. Good news for road users? hardly! How will it affect you?Read the 'Daily Mail' article on 4-2-2 Testing - Don't forget to add your comments! Read Jim Punter's statement on 4-2-2 Testing Trade
News It was agreed that each trade body would use their staff and resources to ensure that both motorists and the general public would be fully informed of the dire consequences regarding road deaths and injuries which would result from such a change. Mr John Ball, a member of the Forum will be co-ordinating the efforts of members to ensure that the greatest impact is achieved. VOSA slammed by Transport Select Committee VOSA has been critcised by aTransport Select Committee report, following its implementation of computerisation of the MOT. Other areas which attracted censure were related to the 'reward' system for VEs to catch out Testing Stations, and an inadequate complaints procedure for Testing Station operators. RMIF Chief Executive Matthew Carrington commented 'After months of wrangling with the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency on its badly implemented MOT computerisation system, MOT Testing Stations will be pleased to learn that the body has now come in for some scathing criticism. More in August's MOT Testing magazine. The Government does not intend to increase the maximum price again until April 2008 at the earliest. In contrast, the Government’s share of the fee will rise from £1.44 (currently) to £1.71, a larger 19% increase. This is surprising as VOSA, the Government Agency which is the recipient of this increase already has substantial surpluses as a direct result of their receiving more money from motorists to implement computerisation than the direct costs they experienced during their supervision of the contract with Siemens (the service provider for computerisation). The Government also announced in a press release that they are considering ‘in the slightly longer term’ allowing the fee to float and find its own market level - at present garages may charge up to a maximum preset level (see table of permitted fees). This would be a high-risk strategy regarding a vital safety inspection of Britain’s private and light commercial vehicle fleet. In-depth comment and analysis of the considerable negotiations and discussions which led to this result in August's issue of MOT Testing Magazine.
Previous MOT Articles What has road tax and driver licensing got to do with the MOT? No, it’s not a trick question, the answer is "nothing". Yet the Government are proposing a tax of £3.00 extra on every MOT Test to pay for the running of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (..."partly to move towards a regime that better supports its policy outcomes and partly to accommodate immediate funding pressures arising from new responsibilities"... we wonder what those 'new responsibilities' are). This is contained in a DVLA consultation document entitled DVLA Consultation on Fee Proposals (Driver licensing and Vehicle Registration) April 2006. (Download the PDF) Evidently some bright spark somewhere in Government thought “MOTs are exempt from VAT, there’s no tax and there are 25 million of them a year, and the mechanism is already in place to collect – what a convenient way to raise more money!” Make no mistake, this is a new stealth tax, and once implemented is bound to rise regularly. This would be a huge imposition on MOT Testing Stations because the MOT slots they have to pay for in advance for the computer will suddenly cost them £3.00 more, and for motorists because this is a spurious tax unrelated to vehicle safety. There’s also the issue of the cost of an MOT increasing for apparently no good reason – who's going to get the bad publicity for that? The MOT Trade! The MOT Test is about road safety and currently the whole cost is spent just on that; the pad fee for VOSA to administer the scheme, and the Testing Station's share to carry it out. The raising of yet more stealth taxes on motorists even as they carry out the annual safety check of their vehicles is deplorable and something which must be very strongly resisted. Incidentally, cars under three years old will not escape - there will be a fee payable equivalent to three years in advance on the purchase of a new car. If you want to protest we suggest that you write to the DVLA: Financial Management
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