Problems in notifying people when their cars were due an National Car Test (NCT) have now been resolved, the National Car Testing Service said yesterday.
A technical hitch at the vehicle registration unit in Shannon meant that NCT centres were not receiving the correctly updated file of cars needing NCTs and some motorists were not being told that their car's test was due.
It is an offence to drive a car without a current NCT certificate and motorists can receive a summons. There is a provision in the Road Traffic Act for five penalty points to be levied after a court conviction for not having a valid NCT certificate, but that has not been introduced yet.
Samantha Breen, marketing manager for NCTS, said the car-testing centres only became aware of the problem when people began ringing up to ask why they had not received a letter offering an NCT.
It emerged that the database sent by the vehicle registration unit did not have a fully updated record of all taxed cars.
Galway Fine Gael deputy Paul Connaughton was contacted by one woman who had driven from Cork to Galway for her driving test. When she arrived, she was informed her NCT disc was out of date and she could not sit the test.
Ms Breen said that problem was now rectified and "people who should have been notified have now been notified".
She also denied reports of lengthy waiting lists for NCTs in some parts of the State and said the typical waiting time was less than 21 days.
Mr Connaughton questioned this, saying he had been contacted by several people in recent weeks complaining about delays in getting their tests done.
He talked to one constituent in his 80s who had been waiting since February for his car test.
"He rang them 10 or 12 times and only yesterday he got a letter telling him to make an application for a test," Mr Connaughton said.
NCTS had told the man that a letter had been sent out in June, but the man was adamant he had not received it.
"He put a sign on his window saying 'NCT test awaited' because he was afraid that he would be stopped by the guards," Mr Connaughton said.
There was a slight decrease in the number of cars passing the NCT first time in the first seven months of this year. Some 52.3 per cent passed the test compared with 52.7 per cent in 2006.