FTA slams Dip test failures
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• The Freight Transport Association has condemned the high failure rate — nearly 23% — for trucks undergoing the annual DTp test, but it wants more information from the department on the reasons for failure so it can help to attack problem areas.
FTA operations committee chairman Alex Lafone says: "We need to know exactly what we have got to attack in order to get the figures down. There is no doubt that the image of the good operator is maligned because of the poor performance of others."
Lafone believes that the failure rate of nearly 23% should be taken "very seriously indeed. As it stands the figure is an indictment of the industry".
The FTA has also slammed the practice by some operators of using the annual test as a way of discovering vehicle faults and as a substitute for proper maintenance checks, but points out that the failure rate for HGVs still compares well with PSVs and cars/light commercials at MoT tests.