For many months now the Government have been considering the responses to their plans to defer for a year when cars and light commercial vehicles should have their first MOT. At MOT Testing, we at MOT Testing magazine protested very strongly about taking a step which would seriously endanger road safety by killing and seriously injuring more people in car crashes caused by vehicle defects. Thankfully they have listened to those arguments and sensibly dropped the whole idea.
However with the MOT failure rate for light commercial vehicles at about 50%, we hoped they would agree to such vehicles being MOT Tested annually from new – also in that consultation document. In fact the Government haven’t opted to take that sensible step. Instead they have decided to boost their roadside checks of such vehicles, and pay for that out of MOT income.
Testing Stations are currently suffering from the worst service from DVSA since the MOT was first set up in 1960. There’s not enough money to provide the service the MOT Trade is entitled to, but instead it is being used to fund a different activity within DVSA not directly connected to MOT Testing. Surely if those vehicles need roadside checks, the cost should be funded from the road tax those vehicle owners pay!
Nevertheless the dropping of the 4-1-1 MOT Testing proposal is good news for motorists, pedestrians and Testing Stations.
Jim Punter
Editor MOT Testing.