The DVSA has been forced to take on extra staff to address a backlog of annual test results created by an IT glitch that has prevented hauliers from paying their Vehicle Excise Duty (VED).

The IT problem at DVSA, which began in March, came to light last month after RHA received an “unprecedented” number of complaints from members struggling to pay their VED due to test data on their fleets not being processed.

Last month DVSA announced it had a fix for the IT issue. However Tom Cotton, RHA head of licensing and infrastructure policy, told motortransport.co.uk that members were still experiencing problems as late as last week.

He added that DVSA has assured him the problem would be resolved by this week.

The agency told motortransport.co.uk it was "prioritising" the backlog and had "increased the team" to process the cases more quickly. It said the problem has affected around 40 companies.

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It added: “Anyone experiencing major issues, such as difficulties with taxing vehicles should contact us as soon as possible. We have put in place a fast-track process to prioritise these matters.”

Gordon Thomson, DVSA head of vehicle testing, said: “DVSA has put a fix in place to correct the technical problems affecting Site Activity Reports (SAR). This is now working well.”