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MPs' report slams Vosa and the HA
Page 6
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Vosa has been criticised by Transport Select Committee MPs following their investigation into the DfT's agencies. Chris Tindall reports.
MPS HAVE EXPRESSED mounting concern that the points system used by Vosa to measure staff performance is flawed and the complaints procedure for operators is not independent enough, laying operators open to intimidation by vehicle examiners.
The committee's damning report on the Department for Transport's four main agencies will he particularly embarrassing for Vosa chief executive Stephen Tetlovv. The MPs say it is unacceptable that he made little effort to defend the points system. other than stating that operators who were fined and then complained -would say that, wouldn't they?"
The report found that Vosa's points system, used to measure the effectiveness of its enforcement activities, "provides perverse incentives for examiners to focus on operators rather than drivers".
It quotes one witness who told the committee that examiners are "given a target to meet over a certain period, be it a fail or pass rate, and bonus payments are given regarding their performance. This can lead to all sorts of malpractice."
The committee, chaired by Gwyneth Durtwoody MR urged Vosa to look again at how vehicle inspections are linked to the reward system for vehicle examiners.
The report also highlighted how test centres are not ideally located, a problem Vosa accepts. However, the MPs were alarmed by the lack of precise information about the agency's review of locations. The committee asks why Holyhead Port is being singled out for a greater number of roadside checks than othei ports of equal size.
A Vasa spokeswoman says thc points system measures the effee tiveness of its enforcement activi ties rather than the performance o. individual examiners.
She adds that operators can corn plain to a Vosa local manager, tht national complaints co-ordinatoi or even the chief executive, prom ising: "All complaints are fully anc independently investigated."
• Vosa says the Scottish and West em Traffic Areas will transfer theii licensing administration to do Leeds office from 7 August, as par of its centralisation of operatoi licensing. The other Traffic Are: Offices will move later this year. christopher.tindall@rbi.co.uk