NCT & Penalty Points Take Heed

Points Panic has NCT in a Spin
The announcement that from 1st of May motorists can get up to 5 penalty points for not having an NCT cert has caused widespread concern, even panic. Motorists in their thousands have been desperately trying to get their test booked and the NCT has found both its switchboard and its website bombarded. It is not now possible to get at test before the end of June. Conor Faughnan advises that there is no need for fuss or panic and no need to worry about the penalty points measure.
With effect from 1st May there will be five new offences for which penalty points can be given. These include failure to have an NCT certificate or failure to rectify a fault indentified by the NCT. This sounds severe but the points are only likely to be applied in the most serious of cases.
This is not the same as the penalty points that are issued automatically for speeding. If you drive past a speed camera today you will receive a penalty points notice in the post. You will NOT be issued with penalty points on the spot or in the post because you do not have your NCT. This can ONLY happen when you are charged, taken to court and successfully convicted. At the moment, you can be fined up to €1,500 and from 1st May you can also be given up to 5 penalty points.
It's clear proof that motorists care a lot more about penalty points than they do about the threat of a fine. The reality is that this law is targeted at people who are driving defective or dangerous vehicles. If you have broken lights or smoke vomiting out of the exhaust then you should not be driving on the public road and the law just got a little tougher on you.
Not having an NCT cert is technically an offence, but even if they wanted to the Garda could not possibly prosecute large numbers of motorists who are compliant and law abiding but are simply late with their NCT. You are no more likely to get 5 points next week than you are to get a €1,500 fine today. Legally possible, perhaps, but very unlikely unless there are other offences or your car is clearly in a dangerous condition.
A lot of people have contacted the AA because they are worried about the issue. One member asked if she could park outside the supermarket and return to the car to find that she has 5 penalty points. The answer is no, that will not happen. These points can only be applied by a court after conviction.
Having said that, drivers cannot ignore the NCT long term. When the system was brought in originally it was not possible to re-tax the car without a valid cert. This made for a very simple and easy system which was essentially self-policing. Unfortunately that link was broken years ago. To make matters worse the NCT has not been able to send reminder letters to motorists to tell them that their test is due. The AA has criticised them for that as in our view it is a fairly basic level of customer service that should be provided.
Worse again, the NCT was not prepared for the public reaction to the law changes. When people tried to contact them and book tests their system was overwhelmed.
Vehicles of four years and older must undergo an NCT test every two years. The system was introduced in 2000 so it has been running for nearly ten years. Over 500,000 cars are tested each year. The system has worked well and the Irish NCT compares favourably with any of the other versions that exist around Europe. Certainly it is superior to the British MoT, that system having been designed in the 1960s.
The NCT is carried out on the State’s behalf by a private company, SGS, which has been operating a ten year contract. At the start of 2010 control will pass to a new company, the Spanish organisation Applus+, which won the contract through an open tender process. Motorists are unlikely to notice any difference from the change.
Driving a dangerously defective vehicle or driving without a certificate of road worthiness will also incur a possible five penalty points from 1st May. There will be a three-point penalty for driving a vehicle without fixing a fault uncovered at the NCT or for drivers of trucks that strike an overhead bridge.
The five new categories will bring to 42 the total number of penalty point offences under the system, which was introduced under the Road Traffic Act in 2002. Over 750,000 notices have been issued to motorists under the legislation.