Recommencement of CVR Testing welcome but more guidance needed says FTAI
19/05/2020
The recommencement of Commercial Vehicle Roadworthiness (CVR) testing from (18 May 2020) is welcome news for the Irish logistics sector, according to FTA Ireland (FTAI), but the government must provide clearer and more consistent guidance to allow logistics businesses to operate in a safe and sustainable manner.
Aidan Flynn, General Manager of FTAI, comments: “As the business group representing the Irish logistics sector, FTA and its members welcome the government’s decision to begin reopening CVR test centres from today; this is a vital step forwards in returning operations to normal, by enabling logistics businesses to have confidence their fleets are fully compliant. However, the government must provide sector specific guidance on Covid-19 workplace safety measures to allow businesses, particularly small to mid-size enterprises, to restart their operations in a safe and sustained manner. Considerable expenditure is required to adopt social distancing and PPE requirements. The government should provide more financial support to the already-stretched SME sector; this would give these businesses the ability to invest in the new processes and deliver a safe working environment.
“We also request that, going forwards, the government provides industry with more time to prepare for announcements such as this; our members would have appreciated more advance notice of the reopening of CVR test centres to plan and schedule their assessments, so that they could be ready to get back on the road, rather than waiting for a test.”
Mr Flynn continues: “The government’s decision to reopen test centres in a phased manner is a conservative approach to ensure safety, and we are pleased to see the reopening of individual centres is subject to detailed measures being implemented to mitigate against the spread of Covid-19 to protect staff, contractors and users of CVR testing services, including Road Safety Authority representatives. Only vehicles with a test due date prior to 28 March 2020 will be accepted for testing initially; this will allow those vehicles with an expired certificate of roadworthiness (CRW) – and are not entitled to an extension – to be assessed first. However, we need a clear roadmap on the opening up of centres to all other categories. CVR test centres are businesses as well and with only a small number of vehicles currently qualifying for testing, it is important that flexibility is developed so that all those who want to get their testing done can do so as a matter of urgency.”
