Three NCT employees sacked

Three staff working for the National Car Test operator Applus have been sacked following allegations that unroadworthy cars were passed in return for bribes.

The scope of the investigation widened yesterday with the suspension of two more vehicle inspectors suspended, bringing to seven those who have faced disciplinary action.

The Government yesterday announced "a full review" of the taxi industry following a Prime Time programme that showed two taxis fail an NCT test before passing a retest, apparently after a bribe was paid.

On foot of issues raised in the programme, Applus is to interview every staff member about breaches of the company’s code of conduct.

It had already dismissed five other staff for breaches of this code over the last year, unrelated to the current allegations.

The Road Safety Authority awarded the 10-year contract for the car test to Applus in January last year and discussed the allegations at a meeting with the firm yesterday.

Grant Henderson, managing director of Applus Ireland, said yesterday the company was “extremely disappointed” by the allegations and had initiated a review of the company’s monitoring systems to identify any similar breaches at other test centres.

Minister of State for Transport Alan Kelly said the taxi industry review would “clean up the appalling practices” in some areas of the taxi industry. He said the vast majority of taxi drivers were legitimate operators but were suffering due to competition from “people not operating within the regulations”.

The review will consider increased Garda enforcement of regulations relating to taxi drivers and the provision of new powers to assist gardaí police the sector. Its findings are expected within four months.