Slieve Gullion Councillor David Taylor has outlined a call by his Party for an urgent review to be carried out of the MOT system in Northern Ireland.
Councillor Taylor believes the current MOT system in Northern Ireland is no longer fit for purpose and the Infrastructure Minster should carry out an urgent review.
Cllr Taylor said “Day and daily people simply cannot get a MOT appointment before their expiration date. They are often not in a position to monitor the booking website all day for a short notice appointment. This often goes hand in hand with their vehicle tax lapsing forcing them to decide whether to drive without tax, or SORN their vehicle. Either option has a potential to have a massive detrimental impact on an individual’s ability to get to work or do basic day to day tasks.
“The reality is that our motorists patience has run out. They want a simple common sense solution that will end the backlog once and for all and I believe the private sector is ready and waiting to start providing the assistance needed to do so.
“The time has come for the Minister to urgently review the current process and at least consider or commission a short, sharp feasibility study into a new hybrid model that will allow car dealerships, for example, to carry out MOT’s on their cars planned for re-sale. This would take thousands of cars out of the system immediately reducing the backlog and ensuring our MOT centres were no longer running to stand still.”


