The government is to consider offering garages
compensation after the online MOT car testing system crashed last
month.
The government has responded to a question by the Conservative
opposition in the House of Commons about possible compensation for
garage owners.
The government said, “All of the 18,300 garages currently in the
MOT scheme have been contacted and advised to write to the MOT
service management team if they believe they have suffered
financial loss as a result of disruptions to the MOT service. Each
claim will be considered on its respective merits.”
As a result of the UK’s £230m MOT system suffering technical
problems, the work of garages around the country was disrupted last
month.
The UK’s 18,300 authorised MOT testing centres are linked to the
system, which was intended to replace handwritten MOT testing
certificates, wipe out the sale of fraudulent certificates and keep
dangerous vehicles off the road.
During the week’s disruptions to the system, garages had to
revert to handwritten MOT notes.
The cause of the problem hasn’t been revealed by the Vehicle and
Operator Services Agency, which runs the scheme.
Siemens Business Services built the system under a 10-year
private finance initiative deal on behalf of the government. After
severe delays, the system finally went live this March.