COUNCILLORS have called on the Minister for Transport to instruct Applus, who run the NCT, to apply a two-year certificate for vehicles that pass the test from the date of the certificate, regardless of the year of the vehicle.
Another councillor suggested that the test should fall due on mileage targets, rather than years.
East Cork-based councillor John Healy (Ind) raised the motion at a recent meeting of the local
authority
‘There are now 375,000 vehicles overdue a NCT test and these cars being used without a valid NCT are in fact breaking the law. Applus have acknowledged the difficulty they are having in bringing the test up to date,’ said Cllr Healy.
Presently a car of 10 years or more has to be tested annually.
‘I propose that cars that pass the NCT regardless of the age of the car be given a two-year certificate.
‘This would help streamline the test operation and it would also eliminate the problems of cars with an out-of-date certificate being driven publicly.’
Cllr Healy said this could be done without compromising road safety and noted that driver error is primarily the reason for accidents.
He said that there is no evidence that the proposal of giving all cars a two-year certificate instead of one year would result in more
accidents.
Cllr Michael Hegarty (FG) seconded the motion and said it is a ‘major crisis’ for the whole vehicle industry.
‘It is causing major problems for all motorists, whether they are private or commercial and I feel that in order to address the backlog, these centres should be operating 24/7,’ said Cllr Hegarty.’
Cllr Frank Roche (Ind) said this issue really affects people with second cars.
‘Where you have a second car in the family for collecting children or for a run around locally, it is very hard for those people to NCT their car every year,’ said Cllr Roche who described it as ‘another attack on the rural community.’
‘I think the NCT should be put up on a mileage basis rather than a yearly basis,’ he suggested.
Cllr Paul Murtagh (FG) said having a mileage limit makes a lot more sense, while his colleague, Cllr Michael Creed said he had a text from the NCT on August 29th last and has heard nothing since.
‘That was over eight months ago,’ said Cllr Creed.
Cllr Seamus McGrath (FF) said the delays are impacting on everyone.
‘It is not acceptable that those levels of delay are in place,’ said Cllr McGrath, who also called for an increase in the operational hours of the NCT centre.
Last week a spokesperson for Applus denied reports that there was a six-month delay for tests in Skibbereen. They suggested that all applicants should apply under the ‘priority’ list to get an earlier date.
