Post by motdave on May 9, 2006 20:41:32 GMT
Telegraph.co.uk
Drivers and garages hit by glitches in new MoT computer
By David Millward, Transport Correspondent
(Filed: 09/05/2006)
Repeated computer crashes have thrown the MoT system into disarray, making it impossible for some drivers to tax their cars.
The glitches have left many of the country's 19,500 testing stations unable to work, often with no warning.
They are having to issue paper MoT certificates then register the details of the car on the database operated by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (Vosa) over the following five days.
Jim Punter, the chairman of the MoT trade forum, said that both motorists and garages were losing out. Post offices are supposed to check the MoT database before issuing a tax disc. Although they are allowed to tax a car when presented with a paper certificate, some are refusing to do so.
Motorists whose cars are not registered on the database are at risk of being ordered to present their documents at a police station if stopped by an officer.
The computerisation of the MoT database was intended to bring that to an end. Patrol cars using automatic number plate recognition cameras were meant to be able to find out instantly if a car was taxed and had a valid certificate.
A spokesman for Vosa insisted that the new system was robust. "There were three failures just before the system was rolled out and one since, on April 24, which affected 57 per cent of stations. That was because of telecommunications problems, rather than the system itself."
But Mr Punter said: "From the point of view of the trade, it has been a disaster." There had been numerous local failures in addition to the ones Vosa admitted to, he said. Mr Punter said the industry had warned Vosa not to go ahead with the system after teething troubles emerged during trials at 1,000 stations.
But Vosa insisted on persisting with the project, which was already running three years late and £10 million over budget. The new technology uses a slow dial-up connection, rather than broadband and dot matrix printers - technology that is regarded as 10 years out of date.
The difficulties have been exacerbated by the back-up system, which relies on garages ringing a call centre for an authorisation code to validate the paper MoT certificates. "With more than 19,000 stations out there, the switchboards have jammed," Mr Punter said.
Ian Davis Knight, of the Retail Motor Industry Federation, said: "Immediate steps must be taken to improve the new system and associated support procedures before customer and trade confidence hits rock bottom.
"We understand the teething problems that new systems of this scale often attract and have supported Vosa in the essential upgrading of the MoT test system.
"However, it cannot continue with a system that patently does not go far enough to address the problems when urgent contact with the MoT network is required."
By David Millward, Transport Correspondent
(Filed: 09/05/2006)
Repeated computer crashes have thrown the MoT system into disarray, making it impossible for some drivers to tax their cars.
The glitches have left many of the country's 19,500 testing stations unable to work, often with no warning.
They are having to issue paper MoT certificates then register the details of the car on the database operated by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (Vosa) over the following five days.
Jim Punter, the chairman of the MoT trade forum, said that both motorists and garages were losing out. Post offices are supposed to check the MoT database before issuing a tax disc. Although they are allowed to tax a car when presented with a paper certificate, some are refusing to do so.
Motorists whose cars are not registered on the database are at risk of being ordered to present their documents at a police station if stopped by an officer.
The computerisation of the MoT database was intended to bring that to an end. Patrol cars using automatic number plate recognition cameras were meant to be able to find out instantly if a car was taxed and had a valid certificate.
A spokesman for Vosa insisted that the new system was robust. "There were three failures just before the system was rolled out and one since, on April 24, which affected 57 per cent of stations. That was because of telecommunications problems, rather than the system itself."
But Mr Punter said: "From the point of view of the trade, it has been a disaster." There had been numerous local failures in addition to the ones Vosa admitted to, he said. Mr Punter said the industry had warned Vosa not to go ahead with the system after teething troubles emerged during trials at 1,000 stations.
But Vosa insisted on persisting with the project, which was already running three years late and £10 million over budget. The new technology uses a slow dial-up connection, rather than broadband and dot matrix printers - technology that is regarded as 10 years out of date.
The difficulties have been exacerbated by the back-up system, which relies on garages ringing a call centre for an authorisation code to validate the paper MoT certificates. "With more than 19,000 stations out there, the switchboards have jammed," Mr Punter said.
Ian Davis Knight, of the Retail Motor Industry Federation, said: "Immediate steps must be taken to improve the new system and associated support procedures before customer and trade confidence hits rock bottom.
"We understand the teething problems that new systems of this scale often attract and have supported Vosa in the essential upgrading of the MoT test system.
"However, it cannot continue with a system that patently does not go far enough to address the problems when urgent contact with the MoT network is required."