Hi-tech MoTs Delayed Again

It's already two-and-a-half years late, but the multi-million-pound project to eliminate MoT fraud is behind schedule again.

Auto Express Car Reviews

15th September 2004

The most recent in a long line of start dates for the scheme - which replaces handwritten certificates with a computerised form (image) - was November. But a spokeswoman for co-ordinator the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) admitted the first garages won't get vital computer equipment on time.

And embarrassingly, the Government knows nothing of the new delay. Earlier this month, ministers were quoting November, but a VOSA leaflet on its website is tellingly called 'MoT Computerisation on Track for December 2004 Launch'.

What's more, putting a computer into all of Britain's 19,000 MoT garages, and then linking them to VOSA's database, is still causing problems. This month, PCs are being installed into 43 test stations in Leicester, Bristol and Sheffield, but cars that pass won't yet be given the new-style certificates.