VI plans to stop local truck test booking
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by Juliet Morrison • Hauliers fear last-minute annual truck test bookings will go if Vehicle Inspectorate plans go ahead to reintroduce a centralised booking system.
Hauliers have had the benefit of localised bookings since the late 1980s: the VI plans to start the new system within two years. The new scheme will restrict hauliers to paying before the test with a credit card or by having an account with the VI. Currently some local testing stations allow hauliers to pay by cash or cheque at the time of taking the test.
The VI says that with a centralised booking system, it will be able to find hauliers tests in other stations if their regular site is fully booked. And it says the system will be operated in real-time, so hauliers will be able to get last-minute tests: "It will be operated like an airline/travel agent booking system," it says.
But hauliers remain sceptical. Derek Pawson, joint managing director of Rotherham-based E Pawson & Son, doubts whether he will get the same level of cooperation from a central department: "Our local testing station gives us an excellent service and the current system will prove more user-friendly."