Debate contribution: MOT Test Waiting Times
Debate contribution by Mr John O'Dowd on .
- MLA
- Mr John O'Dowd
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 30 April 2024
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Ministerial Statements
- Heading
- MOT Test Waiting Times
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4486944
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Anyone with a temporary exemption certificate will be able to tax their vehicle. I advise anyone who falls outside the five- and seven-year categories and continues to have difficulty booking a test to go to the nidirect website, where there is a significant amount of information to assist drivers in relation to questions such as those around taxation. I hope that we will release an additional 115,000 appointments this year and that many fewer drivers will find themselves in the situation that many have found themselves in in recent times with regard to taxation and MOT certificates. The Member asked why we would not move to a permanent situation with this. As I said, to change primary legislation, we have to go through the consultative process and then present legislation, and you know the rest of that story. This is a positive step, but the House will have an opportunity at a later date to decide whether it wants to move to a permanent position.
The core of it was road safety. When we looked at the stage at which temporary exemption certificates should be set, road safety was the key question. A car will have an MOT test at four years old, an exemption at five years old, an MOT test at six years old — hopefully, I do not have to go through the whole journey. Drivers are acutely aware that, at some stage in that journey, their car will have to have an MOT test. I emphasise again and again that, regardless of whether a person has a temporary exemption certificate or an MOT certificate, they still have a legal duty to look after their car if it is on the road.
The frustration that members of the public have with the booking system is that they cannot book an appointment on it. The release of more appointments will make it much easier for drivers to book an appointment. Any driver or vehicle owner who goes on to the system and has a vehicle that is either five or seven years old will automatically be informed that they do not require an MOT and will be issued with a temporary exemption certificate. Hopefully, drivers will find much less frustration with the system.
I cannot make that guarantee. The booking system works on the basis that it is open to all centres. I hope that extra tests being available will mean that a local, or more local, centre will become available to drivers.
415 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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