The government’s plan to tackle the most common form of MOT test fraud has been criticised by a former inspector who claims reduced levels of enforcement are undermining standards.
Around 80% of fraudulent pass certificates issued each year are for cars that haven’t been inspected – known as ‘ghost MOTs’.
Since 2023, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), which administers MOT tests, has been trialling ways of stamping out this practice.
Last month, it told the UK’s 60,000 MOT testers that one solution requires them to take a photograph of the car they are testing in their garage’s test bay. Taken using the tester’s own phone or tablet, the image should show the front or rear of the car, including the numberplate. It can be taken only after the tester has entered the vehicle’s VIN and registration into the agency’s online MOT Testing System (MTS). It must then be immediately uploaded to the same system before the test can continue.
“Whilst it’s only a small number of testers who bring disrepute to the industry by committing fraudulent MOTs, it does happen, and this undermines the important work the rest of you do every day to keep vehicles safe,” said the DVSA’s head of MOT policy, Chris Price.
“Knowing if a vehicle is where it should be at the time of test should reduce the number of MOTs carried out when the vehicle isn’t present or isn’t the same vehicle as the details being entered into [the system]. This will help all of us to crack down on fraud.”
However, Autocar has spoken to a former MOT test enforcement inspector who believes the DVSA’s solution is flawed. The inspector, who asked not to be identified, said that using a tester’s own camera risked the image of the car and test bay being altered by digital tools such as Photoshop.
“I don’t think the DVSA realises quite how far this stuff has come on,” he said. “Using a DVSA device rather than the tester’s phone would give the agency better control. When I was an inspector, to try to improve security I would always ask myself ‘how can I fiddle the process?’, and I believe the camera solution can be fiddled.”
The former inspector, who served for around a decade, believes cuts in the number of MOT inspectors employed by the DVSA have contributed to an increase in ghost MOTs and other fraud. He said: “There were around seven inspectors in my region [in the late 2010s]. Now there’s just one, who I calculate must be responsible for hundreds of garages. I know of some garages that haven’t had an inspection visit for seven years. I believe testing standards are suffering as a result.”
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