NCT got clean bill of health before 'Prime Time' claims

AN INVESTIGATION INTO alleged flaws in the equipment used for the National Car Test (NCT) carried out prior to the Prime Timerevelations last week, failed to identify any significant problems.

The investigation was carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers under its contract to audit the NCT systems and equipment on behalf of service operator Applus.

It began after the Road Safety Authority received an anonymous letter from vehicle testers based at Dublin NCT centres in February claiming the equipment being used to test cars was defective and motorists were being given incorrect results leading to unsafe cars being passed.

It claimed each centre had “reliable” lanes used for trade cars or vehicles belonging to motorists who had complained after failing a test.

The letter questioned the overall consistency of the test and claimed the AA – which performs a mystery shopper audit function for PwC by bringing the same car to a number of test centres – “can’t even get the same result in two lanes beside each other”. The staff claimed they had raised their concerns repeatedly with the AA.

In its response to the allegations, issued to the RSA board two weeks later, PwC said all the main test equipment used to check brakes, lights, shock absorbers and side slip had been replaced last year. Applus took over the 10-year contract worth in excess of €400 million in January 2010.

It compared the pass-fail rates for vehicles across a range of test criteria and found “no significant variance” between results for 2009 and 2010. The widest variance identified was 0.7 per cent.

With regard to the claim that trade cars and those belonging to frustrated customers were tested on “reliable lanes”, PwC said the NCT had an “inbuilt random-allocation feature” which assigned a customer vehicle to an inspector who determined the lane.

PwC said Applus was “firmly of the view” that all 91 test lanes were standard and there was no concept of reliable lanes. The AA’s most recent consistency test, in September, found a 99 per cent compliance rate, “which compares favourably with similar tests in previous years,” PwC said.

PwC said AA engineers received many comments from NCT staff during their tests, including “references to the company’s productivity expectations” and the pressure the staff claim this puts on them.

Last week three NCT vehicle testers were sacked after a Prime Timeprogramme appeared to show vehicle testers accepting a €100 bribe in return for passing a taxi that had recently failed a test. It is understood the three testers who were dismissed were based at the Fonthill NCT centre in Dublin.

The programme suggested it was possible to arrange to have a specific tester inspect a specific car.

Four other vehicle testers were suspended after the programme and An Garda has begun an investigation into allegations of fraud and the certifying of unroadworthy vehicles.

Management at Applus has begun an internal inquiry and all NCT staff are being interviewed individually in a bid to determine whether the alleged fraud occurred at other test centres.