Motorists complain of being unable to secure appointments within six-week window, writes PAMELA DUNCAN
THE ROAD Safety Authority has said that Applus+, the company that has taken over the NCT, could face financial penalties if current problems with bookings for the national car test persist. The warning follows complaints from motorists in recent weeks that they have been unable to secure NCT bookings because there are no tests available in the six-week window in which appointments can be booked.
Mairead Tone, a motorist living in Adare, Co Limerick, was stopped by gardaí when she did not have a valid NCT and told to produce proof that she had booked an NCT at her local Garda station within 10 days. However, she had great difficulties securing an appointment.
“You end up on a callback list, but they won’t issue a letter saying you’ve made an attempt to get an NCT. You’re ringing, ringing, ringing to see if you can get an appointment – it’s like a lottery, basically. I ended up travelling from Adare in Limerick to Kells in Meath, costing me €50 or €60 in petrol, and you’re talking about a whole day lost,” she said.
Conor Faughnan of AA Roadwatch said they have been contacted by motorists who are worried they will receive penalty points if they do not have proof of an NCT booking. He said that while it is “theoretically true” that motorists in this situation may incur penalty points, he said it is “most unlikely”, as points for not having an NCT can only be issued by a judge.
“That doesn’t mean the current situation is acceptable,” he said. “We’re unconvinced and unhappy with the excuses we’re getting from the RSA and Applus+ on this matter. Ninety-five per cent of motorists want to be compliant – if they can’t do so because of a system restriction, that is unsatisfactory.”
A spokeswoman for Applus+, the company that took over the contract to provide NCTs from SGS in January, said that while it is not company policy to send letters to people who have attempted to book an NCT, gardaí can ring Applus+ to confirm that motorists in this position are on a priority waiting list for a test.
There is also confusion around the waiting list. Applus+ insists the average wait is about three weeks. Yet when
The Irish Timesattempted to book a test on nct.ie on Monday morning it was not possible to receive a test date in 34 of the 46 NCT centres nationwide for any date in the next six weeks (after which point you can't make a booking in the NCT system).
The spokeswoman said that this was not reflective of waiting times, as only one-third of available tests are made available through the website at any given time. This is in order to facilitate taxis and those in the motor trade who may need priority tests, plus other emergency bookings and retests. The remaining test slots are then released two weeks before an available appointment.
Asked why motorists could not book more than six weeks into the future the Applus+ spokeswoman said: “I don’t really know the answer to that; it’s just the way we’ve always done it.”
To add to the confusion, motorists are not being issued notification letters telling them they are due an NCT, something the spokeswoman said was down to the spike in demand.
Chief executive of the Road Safety Authority Noel Brett apologised to motorists who have been inconvenienced by the surge in bookings. He said this was down to three factors: since last May, motorists can incur penalty points if they do not have a valid NCT; there has been an increase in the number of older cars being tested; and most vehicles are registered within the first three to four months of the year.
“The NCT has been in place for the past 11 years, and the demand since January has been at its highest in that period,” Brett said, adding that the backlog should be cleared within the month. “We’re very confident that we can clear the spike, and that we will be back to normal demand in the next few weeks.”
He said the following steps were being taken to address the issues:
– NCT centres, which have longer opening hours during the winter months, will this year offer the longer schedule through summer.
– The RSA has announced 58 new jobs within the system, of which 32 are vehicle inspectors. Fourteen have started training and will begin testing in three weeks, while another 18 are due to begin in mid-May. Another 26 administration posts are to be filled in call centres.
– Two new centres, at Greenhills in Tallaght and Carndonagh in Donegal, have opened in recent weeks, and Applus+ has been asked to identify a site for another new centre around Galway, Athlone or Ballinasloe, while existing centres in Arklow, Portlaoise and Waterford are to extend capacity by at least 50 per cent.