Mr Patsy McGlone (Mid Ulster): To ask the Minister for Infrastructure to detail any plans the Driver and Vehicle Agency has to modify existing (i) services; (ii) facilities; and (iii) staffing arrangements, in Mid Ulster, to improve MOT waiting times.
Minister for Infrastructure: Between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026, the Driver and Vehicle Agency (DVA) conducted just under 1.15 million vehicle tests. This achievement was supported by a range of operational measures, including the recruitment of additional vehicle examiners, the use of overtime to cover staff absences, the provision of vehicle test appointments on Sundays and bank holidays when testing would not normally be available, and an increase in the number of vehicles tested by each examiner. Regrettably, an average of around 900 vehicle test appointments were missed each week due to customers failing to attend, placing additional pressure on the service.
The DVA has recently concluded a recruitment competition to appoint new vehicle examiners. The first two cohorts of successful candidates have now successfully completed their training and been allocated to test centres. A further cohort of candidates is currently undergoing training and, subject to successful completion, will be deployed to test centres including Cookstown in November. The appointment of these additional examiners will have a positive impact on waiting times.
The DVA is also progressing a programme of work to install and commission vehicle testing equipment into new test centres at Hydebank and Mallusk. It is expected that both centres will open for vehicle testing within the next six to nine months. Once fully operational, each centre will be capable of testing more than 100,000 vehicles annually, significantly strengthening long-term testing capacity.
In March 2026, I extended the use of Temporary Exemption Certificates (TECs) for eligible five- and seven-year-old cars within specified date ranges for a further year, until the new test centres at Hydebank and Mallusk become operational. The use of TECs has helped reduce waiting times for an MOT test from approximately 100 days at the end of May 2024 to an average of 32 days during the 2025–26 financial year, exceeding the DVA’s business plan target of 35 days.
The DVA also provides an urgent appointment facility for those customers, including garage and car dealerships, who require an MOT to tax their vehicle. 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 within ten days of the expiry date of their vehicle tax and have been unable to secure an appointment or the vehicle tax has expired, they should complete the short notice appointment request form, and the DVA will do its 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.
ENDS
