Changes will be made to the clearance method for some vehicle roadworthiness prohibition notices from 28 September, DVSA has announced. The new approach will supplant temporary measures introduced during an earlier stage of the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.
From that date, all S-marked prohibitions that cannot be removed at the roadside will require inspection by DVSA at an Authorised Testing Facility (ATF).
If the vehicle in question is subject to a temporary exemption, or if its annual test certificate is over six months old, it will be referred for a full removal inspection. A new annual test certificate will be issued with the removal notice once a pass result is achieved in those cases. Vehicles with an annual test certificate that is less than six months old will be referred for a partial inspection. Under that circumstance, a removal notice will be issued.
DVSA has asked ATFs to prioritise vehicles with S-marked prohibitions requiring clearance over others that have been given exemptions when allocating test slot bookings.
Prohibitions issued for a dangerous fail on an annual test, or Police-issued prohibitions, will be removed through the usual process of a DVSA inspection at an ATF.
Clearance inspections for all other prohibition notices will continue to be done at the roadside or by DVSA’s Remote Enforcement Office (REO). The operator will be given guidance at the time that the prohibition is issued on how to remove it. Should unsatisfactory evidence of the clearance be supplied to the REO, the vehicle may be referred for an ATF inspection.
