‘Try to book earliest available MOT’

LOCAL motorists are being urged to book “the earliest available appointment” for MOTs, or risk driving without a valid test certificate.

This week vehicle owners looking to book tests are facing waits of up to five months, as test centres around the country continue to struggle with Covid-related backlogs.

As of yesterday (Wednesday), the earliest available appointment for the Omagh MOT Centre was November 30 and for New Buildings it was November 24.

The booking system at the Driver and Vehicle Agency (DVA) website also erroneously shows appointments to be available in July and August in other areas including Lisburn and Craigavon when in fact, this is not the case.

All of this means that, in many cases, drivers will be unable to get their vehicles tested before their current MOT certificate expires.

Commenting on the current situation, a Department for Infrastructure spokesperson said, “The DVA’s advice to vehicle owners who require an MOT to tax their vehicle and cannot secure a date before their MOT expires is to book the earliest available appointment and keep checking the booking system for an earlier appointment.

“If they get to within five days of the expiry date of their vehicle tax and they have been unable to secure an appointment or their vehicle tax has expired, they should contact the DVA Customer Services team at dva.customerservices@infrastructure-ni.gov.uk and they will do their best to get an urgent appointment for the vehicle.

“To date, all customers who have contacted the DVA in these circumstances have been offered an earlier appointment.”

The PSNI has also issued updated advice to motorists on how they can avoid prosecution if they have to drive without a valid MOT
certificate.

Roads Policing Chief Inspector Graham Dodds explained, “In the event police encounter a vehicle with no current MOT, so long as we can ascertain that a vehicle is roadworthy, has a forthcoming MOT test date and is not SORNED, then police will not take any further action. Every driver has a responsibility to ensure their vehicle is roadworthy.

“As for vehicle tax, police do not prosecute for this offence but can make a referral to Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) if they detect an untaxed or SORNED vehicle being used or kept on a public road. Taxation offences are a matter for HM Revenue and Customs and would be best contacted on this.”