Operators must tell Vosa if they are having problems booking an annual test, the FTA has warned.
"We still get reports in most of our member meetings that test availability is an issue," said James Firth, FTA head of road freight and enforcement policy. "But since the introduction of ATFs, Vosa does not have an oversight of how easy or difficult it is to get a test so we need the industry to feed back to Vosa if forward booking times are an issue."
Previously, annual tests at Vosa stations were booked via Vosa’s central booking system.
"At the moment, if you phone an ATF and they say they’re full for a month, you try somewhere else, but there’s no record of that initial failed transaction," said Firth. "So Vosa has no idea how many operators are not able to get tests when they want them."
A debate MT’s sister title Commercial Motor started on network site Linked In, resulted in a mixed response. Four respondents said in most instances they were able to get tests at short notice at ATFs, while one operator said he had to "stagger his tests" to prevent log-jams. Another said that since the Mitcham Vosa station closed in Surrey, the whole of south London "is a headache for annual tests".
Dave James, owner of Dave James Commercials, added: "In central and mid-Wales some ATFs have no available dates for the next three or four months. It is a nightmare. The Vosa testers are over-worked and few and far between."
