VI shake-up to beal Lest backlog
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• Hauliers are being forced to take trucks off the road because they cannot get appointments for annual tests, despite applying up to six weeks in advance.
Ron Oliver, chief executive of the Vehicle Inspectorate, admits there have been problems: "The situation is not as bad now as it was a few months ago," he says. "We found demand grew for inspections, and that is something we can predict, but what is much more difficult to predict is where the growth in demand occurs."
Next week the VI will talk to staff unions about changes in working practices, including Saturday testing, in a bid to cut the backlog.
The problem has been particularly severe in the South East where the VI faces continuing problems of recruitment, and in the North West, where there was a huge growth in demand for tests.
In some cases operators have been refused tests but not provided with statutory temporary exemption certificates to allow them to continue to use their vehicles until a suitable test slot is found.
The Road Haulage Association has written to the VI complaining about these cases, and the FTA also says it knows of instances at the Purfleet test station where operators were refused exemption certificates.
Local VI managers were asked to try to solve the prob lem of waiting lists as far as possible without resorting to exemptions, says Oliver. Unfortunately in a small number of instances "district managers went further than they were instructed to go".
The VI now wants to solve the problem of waiting lists by recruiting more inspectors, introducing a new grade of assistant vehicle examiner, and launching a pilot programme of Saturday testing at six VI stations around the country.
Negotiations between the VI and the staff unions will centre on these changes. Oliver says: "As an executive agency over the last year we have been able to respond much more to the demands at our testing stations. Now we are planning changes to our grades and bonus schemes, which, subject to union agreement, should help us to bridge that demand.
O The Department of Transport has issued a consultation document for operators' reaction to Saturday testing. FTA engineering manager Ron Rider says that he has received a great deal of interest.