Sir, – I was reminded of the long wait times to have an NCT test carried out by Patrick Kinsella (Letters, October 6th), so I decided to book early since it is due on March 8th next year. The test can be carried out up to 90 days before the expiry date which in this case is December 8th. Entering the registration number into the NCT booking website returned a warning in garish yellow print on a black background “Warning! Your vehicle is not due yet! If you continue to make a booking, it may fall under the voluntary testing rules which will bring future test due dates forward”. It follows this up with, “To continue you must accept the voluntary test conditions”, and a box that must be ticked before you can go any further.
The website could have told me the date on which the voluntary early testing was no longer applicable but it did not. Instead it warned me off even attempting to make a booking, despite the fact that with a long running backlog of well over 90 days, there was no possibility of a date that involved voluntary test conditions being offered. The first available date was late March, several weeks after the expiry of the present certificate. Is it too much to ask of NCT that instead of creating fear of penalties through booking in good time, thus encouraging vehicle owners to delay booking, it could actually provide the relevant information that is actually needed and useful to owners. Waiting until the voluntary test conditions notice is no longer displayed would result in the first available appointment being many months after the expiry of a current certificate. – Yours, etc,
DAVID JACOBS,
Rathfarnham,
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