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The House of Commmons Transport Select Committee's Ninth Report of the 2005-06 Session, on The Work of the Department for Transport’s Agencies – Driver and Vehicle Operator Group and the Highways Agency (HC 907), is published on today, 27 July at 11.00 am. The text of the report will also be available on The Stationery Office's website (www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmtran.htm).

The Retail Motor Industry Federation, which has long been critical of the implementation of the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) MOT test computerisation system, this morning welcomed the Transport Committee’s ‘scathing’ criticism of VOSA in the report.

“After months of wrangling with the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) on its badly implemented MOT computerisation system, MOT testing stations will be pleased to learn that the body has now come in for some scathing criticism,” said RMIF Chief Executive Matthew Carrington.

He continued: “Many of our MOT testing station members have suffered considerably due to issues highlighted by the Transport Select Committee. Delays and implementation problems have been rife, and apologies from VOSA were neither freely forthcoming nor well communicated. The report also refers to inadequacies within the ‘points’ system for vehicle examiners: the complaints procedure for operators against examiners appears to be not quite as impartial as it implies, and the issue of how vehicle inspection is linked to a reward system for examiners needs further debate.”

Carrington ended: “The DVO Group and the Highways Agency appear to have been correctly criticised right across the board for their underperformance in the areas of finance, staffing, performance and project management … Perhaps now, these agencies will get their act together and liaise with businesses, which are also their customers, in a spirit of more openness and transparency.”

(www. parliament.uk, www.rmif.co.uk)