1; did you receive any prior warning of the visit
2; how long did the visit last
3; did you find any of the questions relevant to your type of business
4; was it very disruptive to the running of your testing station
5; do you feel this would have been better carried out by independant staff and not the local V.I inspector
6; do you feel that all testing stations are treated equally by V.I staff in your area

please note this is neither a dig at vosa or the mot scheme just a survey of the general feeling out there.

Now, with computerisation and wireless networks the VOSA man can sit outside your premise and monitor your MOT work, I know this has happened in one of my three Stations, another of my testers recently informed me of a "national failure database", in that he was sent details giving comparison to the national picture as to how he was comparing with the national average,he happened to be above the average on failing tyres, a critical safety feature which I have never disputed, Finally, are you seeing a greater failure rate as that seems to flag a VOSA visit? unfortunately, the downside of computerisation is that all stations can be compared side by side, any station that is not adhering to the national average can expect a visit to ascertain why, I believe this is a retrograde step, different stations have different types of customers so their results will be different, I really feel that we have more or less gotten to a Police state as far as MOT's are concerned, my view is , leave it to the testers, they are the ones under the spotlight, I trust all my testers implicitally, otherwise I would not use them, I believe in a fair test depending on the age of the car, VOSA spot checks, yes, they do them out my way , what good do they do , next to nowt ! I dislike "backdoor enforcement", uncredible in my view !!

Tony

Was it arranged or did they just turn up?

I'd be interested to hear exepriences from anyone who has had one.

Cheers

Sean

Regards
Dave

regards

steve

1) No prior warning given

2) Visit lasted approximately 2 hours (two testers on site)

3) 50% of the questions were unrelated to the MOT scheme. They seem to be aimed at assessing the general level of professionalism.

4) The visit was disruptive. Anything that stops two guys from earning for two hours is a disruption.

5) Its hard to say if independent staff would be better placed to carry out the visit. At least the VOSA guys have got some idea about the perils of the job.

6) I have no evidence to state that any testing station has been treated differently in our area. Everyone I spoke to was of the same opinion.

Joe

Are you just moving into bike testing or have you done it previously?

We are looking at the possibility of installing a bike lane, but will have to lose our single post ramp (which does come in handy). Are you busy with this and do you find most of your bike customers want the MOT at the weekend?

Cheers

Sean

I can quite understand, so lets move it to the General Technical Forum as I think everyone would like to see your response.

Regards

Sean

steve

I have three bikes of my own, the garage is 5 minutes from Boxhill and the nearest bike test station is miles away.

I have a friend who is a bike MOT tester - so it seems like a no-brainer to go for the bike MOTs.

...but it just seems like too much aggro for the money?

Joe

steve

Harry