3:25 pm, March 7, 2019
NEARLY 40 per cent of MOT testers face being suspended if they don’t complete their annual training and assessment by the end of the month.
That’s according to the Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), which says its figures show that 24,694 testers still have to complete it. Last year, 5,538 were suspended for failing to do so.
Every year, all 63,000 MOT testers have to carry out training and assessment on set topics to make sure they are competent and safe to carry out MOTs.
DVSA MOT product manager Simon Smith said: ‘DVSA’s priority is to help everyone keep their vehicle safe to drive.
‘Annual training and assessment is a vital part of continuous improvement to maintain the high quality of the MOT. Testers need to be well prepared to carry out their work and be knowledgeable about the subjects they deal with.
‘Testers shouldn’t wait until the last minute to record their training and assessment results but do it well before March 31. If they don’t carry out their training and assessment in time, they will be suspended and face losing money.’
Annual training and assessment was introduced in 2016 as a programme of continuous improvement for testers to ensure they are well informed about the work they do and up to date with new technology and industry requirements.
If suspended, they must complete all the following year’s topics and take a demonstration test to be able to return to testing.
Testers need to do at least three hours of training each year and a total of 16 hours in five years.
The pass mark for the assessment is 70 per cent. It consists of 30 multiple-choice questions and usually takes around 45 minutes to complete.
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