Mrs Erskine said, “A few weeks ago cracks were found in MaHa MOT testing lifts and yet nothing has come from the Department until now when whistle-blowers providers I and my colleagues with information. This raises serious questions for the Minister, his Department and DVA (who will be coming to the Infrastructure committee on Wednesday).
The Department spent £1.8million to replace 52 of the 55 lifts when cracks appeared on the same lifts in 2019. Overall it cost the Department nearly £4million in terms of backlogs to the MOT testing system. How have we managed to reach the same situation again? Whilst the number is thought to be 14 lifts, with a lift sent to Germany for further testing, it will undoubtedly cause concern amongst DVA testing centre employees and the general public.
Undoubtedly it will cause further delays in our MOT testing. Therefore whilst we await the outcome of testing in Germany to the lifts, it is important that the Minister clearly outlines what he and his Department are doing to curb the looming crisis. Lessons should have been learnt from 2019 and it is important that we are honest with the public.
I was unable to request answers directly from the Minister today in the Assembly chamber, but I will be asking DVA to provide the most up to date information to the Infrastructure Committee, and ensure everything is being done to assure the public and employees.”