Thousands of motorists miss NCT deadline

MOTORISTS WHO drive without a valid National Car Test certificate from today face an additional penalty of five points on their licence in addition to the existing fine of €1,500 on conviction in court.

SGS, which operates the NCT testing centres, said thousands of drivers have missed today’s deadline, with appointments yesterday stretching as far as July.

From today drivers are liable for five penalty points for driving faulty vehicles, driving vehicles without a certificate of roadworthiness and failing to have an up-to-date NCT certificate.

Motorists who fail to address defects identified by the NCT will receive three penalty points, as will truck drivers who strike overhead bridges. Up to 25,000 calls per week have been received by the NCT operators since the new penalties were announced by Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey on April 13th last.

Yesterday the Department of Transport emphasised that driving a car without a valid NCT was already an offence, punishable with fines, and the deadline would not be postponed despite the lengthy queues for a car test.

The department said: “The roll-out of penalty points on conviction for these motoring offences will begin on May 1st.”

However, Mr Dempsey has also referred to Garda advice that motorists who have failed to meet today’s deadline should carry their letter confirming their appointment dates to help “explain” their position.

Since the announcement of the new penalty three weeks ago, SGS has employed additional staff at its call centres, and its website, which crashed repeatedly in response to what the company said was an unprecedented increase in inquiries, was working again yesterday.

However, Fine Gael transport spokesman Fergus O’Dowd said it was not acceptable that motorists did not have a clear answer to whether the additional penalty of five demerit points from today would be enforced by gardaí.

“Thousands of drivers who were unable to get an appointment do not know when they are stopped if they will pick up five penalty points on their licence or if they will be let go.”

AA spokesman Conor Faughnan said while the affair had a “touch of fiasco about it”, he believed drivers were very unlikely to be prosecuted in the short-term unless the car had a serious defect.