ANNUAL PAPERCHASE
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"Pssst...wanna buy an annual test certificate?" Not the kind of thing your average punter offers you in the pub. Or is it? If the number of annual test certificates stolen from test stations this year alone is anything to go by you're just as likely to be offered one as a pirate video or a "designer" leather jacket.
Test certificates, it appears, are as desirable as Porsche 911s or Volvo F12 Globetrotters. But why the boom in stolen test certificates?
For the unscrupulous operator who's skimped on maintenance, or ignored it, a stolen and forged test certificate is a passport to another 12 months' cowboy operation. Visit from the Ministry? "Of course I'm kosher...here's the test certificate for the wagon." Hoping to unload that wreck in the yard to some bright-eyed would-be owner-driver? "Don't worry mate it's got a full 12-month certificate.." The opportunities to profit from stolen papers are there.
A dodgy cer tificate could even save you a test fee—a bargain for some given the way they've been rising lately. The irony of it all is why an "Executive" Government agency should have this problem at all. The VI has known for some time that there was a ready market for stolen certificates but so far the measures taken to prevent theft appear woefully inadequate. Are we going about the problem in the right way? Presumably the VI can track stolen certificates in the same way that traders can be alerted to stolen travellers cheques or credit cards—by their unique numbers. Unfortunately your average used-truck buyer probably isn't going to be privy to the same useful information unless the VI makes a determined effort to reveal which certificates are missing. The question is how determined are they? If the VI can't stop villains stealing certificates from their test stations (and from the latest statistics they can't) then instead of spending precious time "reviewing" security it should consider taking out a regular full-page advert in national newspapers, and trade magazines such as Commercial Motor, listing the latest certificates that have been swiped. And a complete list of stolen certificates could be published and made available for public inspection—main Post Offices do it with unclaimed premium bonds, so why not have stolen test certificate directories at MOT and VI test stations?
Or why not make it simple by offering an 0898 telephone check service based on the VI's central computer. If you want to check whether a certificate is stolen or forged "Just dial this number for peace of mind..." The cost of the call could easily pay for its administration.
The more people there are who can spot a bent certificate the more likely a villain will switch to something more easy. Criminals don't like having to work hard— that's why they took to crime in the first place.