Testing starts and so do the troubles
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• Inadequate signposting of stations; ill-informed operators; blatant faults such as broken springs and leaking brake lines; new but unbedded brakes; wrongly completed test application forms—these were some of the ingredients of the first day of heavy goods vehicle testing at Ministry of Transport stations in England and Wales on Tuesday. And hanging over all was the fact that, even now, only about 10:per cent of the vehicles due for testing by the end of November have been put in for the test.
October 1 was the first day of official testing, after a period of voluntary testing at some stations, which many operators (but not enough) have put to good use. The first batch of vehicles for testing and plating comprises those over 3 tons unladen registered before January 1, 1958. All these have to be plated and, tested before December 1 this year; after that date they may not legally be used on the road without a plating certificate and a valid test certificate.
To see how the first day's testing went, CM arranged for staff members to attend six Ministry stations in widely separated parts of England (one of the problems, as it turned out, being to find stations which had enough vehicles on the first day to make the visit worth while; most of those attended had little more than a handful to deal with). The lessons which the first day revealed are well worth pondering upon. And if they are properly learned, the start of testing in Scotland on December 2 may produce many fewer problems than the English kick-off.
Purfleet, Essex
by Roger Howell • The Purfleet testing station was given a high-level send-off, the official opening being performed by Mr. Stephen Swingler, Minister of State at the Ministry of Transport. Also in attendance were Lord Winterbottom, Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Public Buildings and Works, and Mr. W. A. Odiam, Metropolitan area mechanical engineer, Ministry of Transport.
Apart from the obvious road safety and "industry image" angle, the main point of Mr. Swingler's address was the poor response that there had been to the scheme. Of 30,000 goods vehicles weighing more than 3 tons unladen and registered before January 1, 1958 which must have valid plating and test certificates by December 1, applications for testing had been received for
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