MOT waiting times may be affected by upgrade in April 2012

The upgrade is part of a province-wide refreshment which commences in Cookstown on August 1, 2011 and continues across the other centres over the next 12 months.

Londonderry’s MOT centre will be upgraded over a singe week April 16 - April 20 next year.

DVA Chief Executive, Stanley Duncan, said: “The upgrade to the existing equipment is necessary to ensure continued reliability and consistency of vehicle testing. However due to the scale of the work involved, it is inevitable that there will be some closure of vehicle test lanes.

“This will be kept to an absolute minimum but customers are urged to book their MOT tests as early as possible, in order to have some choice of appointment dates.”

Waiting times vary between centres and it is often the case that tests can be secured more quickly at centres close to the one customers normally use.

For example customers in the Londonderry area will find centres at Coleraine and Omagh.

The contract for the supply of vehicle test equipment and related services includes periodic replacement of equipment.

The work to be carried out will include replacing all scissors lifts and other parts of equipment in car lanes, and some equipment parts in the heavy goods vehicle (HGV) lanes.

This will be of great benefit to the vehicle testing process whilst also facilitating the testing of longer wheelbase light goods vehicles that have increased in numbers over the last few years.

The DVLA says the schedule will be reviewed after completion of work at the first two centres to minimise any down time for the remainder of the rollout.

This equipment replacement programme will not change the test process.

Under the terms of the PFI contract between the Department and Romaha Limited, there is a clause for periodic refreshment of the vehicle testing equipment.