On 14 April I had one of my vehicles booked in for an MoT at our local DVSA-certified testing station.
The day before the test, my contractor told me we needed a new headlight, and I had a courier deliver it the same day for a cost of £170. Then, at the last minute the testing station told my contractor that they could not test it as they were understaffed.
It is now 24 April and the vehicle remains untested – no apology or anything – apparently that’s just the way it is. I have heard of other local operators in the same position – in most cases their vehicles were booked in, then untested and have run out of MoT. So they cannot use their vehicles, and are having to pay other people to cover work while their vehicles sit at a depot off the road.
This whole situation is an utter disgrace. I would like someone from DVSA to respond to this please. How on earth can any of us be expected to run a business where we are forced to comply with an organisation that can point-blank refuse to honour their side of the agreement with no explanation? They are not punished or held accountable by anyone, and the operators have an endless list of obligations where if they fail a single one they lose their O-Licence, and are heavily fined and made to look negligent.
DVSA has closed most of its own testing stations and set up alternative places for testing. If these places are unable to do the job, then DVSA needs to find a way to make it work – or perhaps it will be hauled up in front of the Traffic Commissioner?
If my business was a one-vehicle operation, I would have lost two weeks’ revenue AND had to pay someone else to cover my work – which is exactly the position a few operators in Hertfordshire find themselves in.
Greg White
Director
Whites Coaches
