MoTs: NI Driver and Vehicle Agency to ramp up testing

MoT testing services and practical car and lorry driving tests are set to ramp up in Northern Ireland from Tuesday.

Testing for some vehicle groups resumed last month.

The Driver and Vehicle Agency (DVA) will now resume MoT testing for categories including four-year-old cars and motorbikes.

Three-year-old light goods vehicles, heavy goods vehicles, trailers and buses are also to be tested from Tuesday.

The DVA will also begin car and lorry driving tests, prioritising key workers followed by people whose tests were cancelled in lockdown.

Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon warned there would be significant demand for driving tests and initial waiting times could be longer than usual.

MoT tests were suspended in January after faults were detected in some of the lifts. Testing was further disrupted by the pandemic.

The agency issued temporary exemption certificates (TECs) so motorists could stay on the road.

On 20 July, the DVA reinstated MoT testing for priority groups including taxis and buses due a first-time test, vehicles not previously registered in Northern Ireland and vehicles whose MoTs had expired by more than 12 months.

Individual Vehicle Approval (IVA) testing for priority vehicles was also reinstated to support the health service.

Jeremy Logan, acting chief executive of the DVA, said there was a limited capacity still of approximately 30-35% at centres due to public health guidance.

"As restrictions relax, we would hope to bring more vehicles forward, so some vehicles in October or November may be issued with a TEC.

"However, if we have the capacity to test at that time, they will be issued with a reminder notice and, at that stage, they will be called forward," he said.

No hard copies of TECs are issued and motorists should check the status of their MoT online.

Mr Logan said about 3,000 driving tests had been cancelled in the pandemic.

"I'm hoping by the end of October, we should be able to open up that booking service for all other customers and sooner if we can," he said.

"We will do our best to get through those priority groups as quickly as we can."

DUP assembly member Michelle McIlveen is to chair an emergency meeting of the Infrastructure Committee on Thursday.

She is concerned driving tests could be pushed into the new year.

"It is vital that the serious concerns expressed by those young people waiting to secure a driving test are given a focused and passionate voice," she said.

"This situation is completely unacceptable.

"There is a need for more sustainable, streamlined and user-friendly structures for customers, including contingencies should a second wave of Covid-19 emerge over the winter."

Meanwhile, dozens of driving instructors protested outside the DVA test centre in Craigavon on Tuesday over the continued closure of driving test services at the site which has been operating as a Covid-19 testing centre.

Learner drivers hoping to take a test in Craigavon are being directed to Lisburn or Armagh.

Driving instructor William Millar said this was putting students off.

"I have had three students already who don't want to go to Armagh, they don't want to go to Lisburn, so they have stopped taking lessons," he said.

Upper Bann MP Carla Lockhart said the situation was having a "dire effect" on driving instructors.

She said they had been "deeply, deeply affected" and added the situation for young people applying for driving tests was "unacceptable".