Driver and Vehicle Licensing Northern Ireland (HC 97-i ) Transport Committee 17 Jan 2006

Evidence given by Dr Stephen Ladyman, a Member of the House, Minister of State for Transport, Mr Brendan Magee, Chief Executive, Mr Trevor Evans, Deputy Chief Executive and acting Director of Vehicle Operations, Driver and Vehicle Registration and Licensing in Northern Ireland (DVLNI) and Mr Clive Bennett, Chief Executive, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)

Q69 Mr. Eric Martlew: Is there a timescale for this? [changes to MOT regulations in NI]

Dr Ladyman: I think we are intending to start the consultation in spring. It will be a normal 12 week consultation so we should be in a position to discuss these things on an informed basis in the autumn.

Q70 Chairman: The general public will want to know in good time because an MOT must inevitably be directly connected with safety and surely it should not be something that is quietly disposed of as a small administrative change on the basis of a European directive.

Dr Ladyman: That is right, and one of the advantages we have is that we can analyse the age at which vehicles fail based on our current testing regime. We know how many people already fail the test when they have it tested at three years. If they are failing at three years it is not likely to be a lower number of failures at four years.

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Q96 Mr. Eric Martlew: Is it a fact that the [penalty] points you get in Northern Ireland and the points you get in the rest of Great Britain you do not add them together.

Dr Ladyman: We cannot add them up. That is what we would need primary legislation to allow us to do.

Q97 Mr. Eric Martlew: You can have 12 points in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland and still not be banned.

Dr Ladyman: You could have 18 points in total and not be banned if you had nine in Northern Ireland and nine on the mainland.

Q98 Mr. Eric Martlew: You are looking at putting this right.

Dr Ladyman: We are.

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Q114 Mr. Eric Martlew: Parts of the differences you would not want to publicise, of course. You would not want to tell people from the UK that if you get points in Northern Ireland they do not count.

Dr Ladyman: Thank you for pointing that out on television, Mr Martlew.

This is an uncorrected transcript of evidence taken in public and reported to the House. The transcript has been placed on the internet on the authority of the Committee. Neither witnesses nor Members have had the opportunity to correct the record. The transcript is not yet an approved formal record of these proceedings.

On behalf of Eric Martlew, 3 Chatsworth Square Carlisle Cumbria CA1 1HB