VI refutes Whalley's 'slow report' claim
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• The Vehicle Inspectorate insists that it is meeting agreed performance standards, despite criticism of its turnround times in the Licensing Authorities' latest annual report.
In the report North-Eastern Licensing Authority Fred Whalley slated the VI for delays in getting vehicle maintenance information to his office, allowing operators with "unacceptably poor maintenance standards to continue unchecked", until a public inquiry could be called.
In fact targets which were agreed with the LAs are being met, says Hugh Edwards, VI director of customer liaison and business development.
"Our agreed turnround is to return 90% of maintenance requests within nine weeks and we're currently doing this," says Edwards.
Edwards agrees it is "clearly embarrassing" for Whalley to have to revoke 0-licences at a public inquiry which should have been weeded out at application stage, but he says there have been no complaints from other traffic areas.
Edwards and the VI's NorthEast group manager Mike Charity are talking to Whalley in an effort to resolve the situation.
If dissatisfaction over turnround times is prevalent among the LAs, then the contracts might be revised, says Edwards..