The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has put limiting road casualties, emissions and particulate matter within its Strategic Plan to 2025 and Vision to 2030, which were published 4 April 2023. DVSA’s Strategic Plan and Vision also seek to demonstrate how the agency will harness data in order to improve MOT quality control. Both are likely to impact the way garages and fast-fits that offer MOT testing operation in future.
On 7 December 2022, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) published an information article entitled: “part worns: what operators need to know”. The obvious suggestion ‘don’t buy them’ aside, what advice is the DVSA offering when it comes to part worn tyres?
The latest data shows commercial vehicles are issued 10 times more prohibitions three months after their annual test (MOT), according to the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA). And the highlighted examples includes tyres worn to the cords.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has updated the wording relating to its categorisation of motorcycle tyre defects. The associated document, published on 22 August 2022, governs how vehicle defects found during roadside inspections or vehicle tests are categorised and what action will be taken when they’re found. In short, treads near the limit are now subject to inspection notices. The updated wording takes effect on 1 September 2022.
OTR tyres, seasonal tyres (such as winter and all-season products) and the tyre retail business are our key features this month. As important as the development of the OTR and seasonal tyre segments undoubtedly is, the combination of tectonic shifts in the UK tyre retail landscape and transport secretary Grant Shapps’ decision to once again suggest changing MOT frequency have stolen my column’s attention this month. On the latter point, NTDA chief executive Stefan Hay was understandably riled to learn that Shapps is retreading the meddling-with-the-MOT path (something readers can read more about in the UK section of May’s magazine). Either way, renewed focus on MOT protocol is firmly connected with the ongoing development of the tyre retail business.
In 2019 30.2 million MOTs were completed. That figure increased to 31.3 million in 2021 and it is expected to grow again in 2022. Specifically, over a million more MOTs are expected to be conducted this year compared to 2019, according to SecretService.
The proposal that MOT testing in Northern Ireland should move from annual to biennial testing has stirred up a variety of opinions among the trade and the public and, over the past weeks, National Franchised Dealers Association Northern Ireland (NFDA NI) has drawn attention to the issues currently facing the MOT system in Northern Ireland and the Department for Infrastructure’s proposals for biennial testing.
In August 2021, DVSA wrote to stakeholders to consult on its proposals to increase most DVSA statutory fees by 1.5 per cent. The results are now in and the headline news is that more than two-thirds supported the incremental statutory fee increase.
The DVSA has banned Jamie Smith of Rookhill Road, Pontefract for claiming to have ‘completed’ an MOT test and issuing a pass certificate for a Mercedes-Benz C van at a garage in West Yorkshire when it had been seized by Spanish police for not having valid tax or MOT. Smith has also been sentenced to a 12-month community order and banned from testing. According to the DVSA, the van was one of nine vehicles Smith falsely issued MOT certificates for.
On 1 February 2021, new legislation banning tyres aged over 10 years on the front steered axles of lorries, buses and coaches along with all single wheels of minibuses (9-16 passengers seats) came into force. The ban also includes horseboxes over 3.5 tonnes.
The DVSA has announced changes to the driving theory test, which will come into effect in April 2020 for new learner drivers in England, Wales, and Scotland. Instead of reading case studies and answering three questions about them, learners will soon have to watch a short, silent, video clips, which will be followed up with three multiple-choice questions. Test sitters can watch the video clip as many as times as they wish. This change does not apply to theory tests for motorcycles, lorries, bus or coaches and Approved Driving Instructors, part 1.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has announced that, from 1 November 2019, anyone applying to be an authorised examiner (AE) or authorised examiner designated manager (AEDM) will need to have a basic DBS check. This verifies the applicant’s identity and checks unspent convictions. DVSA is introducing DBS checks to prevent people who might damage the integrity of the MOT scheme from holding positions of authority at test centres.
The UK didn’t participate in the MSTyre15 project, yet we’ve gained a better understanding of tyre labelling non-compliance here thanks to freedom of information (FOI) requests made by Unite, the trade union representing many employed within the automotive sector in Britain and Ireland. In separate FOI responses, it was confirmed to Unite that no legislation exists to enforce Regulation (EC) No. 1222/2009 and that mislabelled tyres have been sold in the UK.
According to research carried out by leading automotive consumer website www.HonestJohn.co.uk, young people are giving up on the idea of learning to drive. The number of 17-year olds taking the practical driving test has fallen by more than 100,000 since 2007-08, while the overall number of under-25s in the UK that are learning to drive is down by 20 per cent.
The Independent Garage Association (IGA) is launching its biggest MOT training campaign yet across the industry as a response to low numbers of MOT Testers having completed the DVSA’s mandated annual training.
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