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1.0SEMEUES
Page 22
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Vosa pulls testing staff off the roadside to cut queues
Vosa is trying to reduce waiting times for annual tests by redeploying frontline staff — but one union is not impressed. Louise Cole reports.
VOSA STAFF ARE being pulled off roadside enforcement to improve forward booking times at test stations, according to the Prospect trade union -it fears the improved service could come at the cost of road safety.
Unions officials say about 80 frontline jobs were lost or shifted from test stations to enforcement early this year. But now, they claim, Prospect members across the country are being redeployed to testing.
The staff who moved were vehicle inspectors and management-grade PT0s: Last week Vosa said none of them would have had testing responsibilities. However, the union says these workers are now being asked to show 'flexibility' and move back to testing stations to alleviate the test-booking crisis.
Kevin Warden, secretary of the VI chapter of Prospect,saysvehicle inspectors and PTOs can all test vehicles: "Vehicle inspectors are the lads who go out to designated premises and PTOs test at times of high demand, when it's all hands to the pump. We're seeing people being asked or told-to move in the North, in Leeds, in Wales... it's pretty widespread."
The union has already objected to the redeployment of some individuals. Warden says Vehicle Inspectors do have some testing written into their job description but enforcement support officers, known as 'stoppers', do not, and the union is resisting their redeployment. "The problem is people can only do one thing at a time," says Warden. "If they are testing, they are not enforcing safety on the roads or meeting their targets. These [forward booking] issues usually don't kick in until July or August when holidays are an issue. But this year it has been a problem all the way through April." He accepts that a certain amount of seasonal redeployment is healthy and necessary but claims that job cuts in the civil service have left Vosa undermanned and condemns the latest policy as "a knee-jerk reaction".
Vosa has 77 test stations in the UK excluding designated premises, with 60 dedicated testers, 389 vehicle inspectors and 133 PT0s.
Vosa says it has recently set up a unified testing and enforcement division. A spokesman claims: -This new structure will ensure that all of our inspection staff (formerly in separate testing and enforcement divisions) operate flexibly under the new Testing and Inspection Directorate."
• For Vosa's full response to our recent questions, see www. roadtransport.conilvosa