Drivers in Fermanagh are waiting on average 27 days to secure a MOT examination at the Enniskillen Test Centre.
The figures released by the Department for Infrastructure outline that during September the average waiting time here was 27 days, down from 32 days in August this year.
Over the same two months across the North more than 5,000 drivers failed to show up for MOT test appointments.
The failure to attend test appointments come at a time when drivers in Fermanagh are facing lengthy waits of approximately one month, as the backlog which peaked in the summer of this year continues to be felt.
Commenting Enniskillen Councillor Paul Blake said, “It is coming down slightly and we would hope that waiting time for October would come down by another five days to make some kind of progress.
“I think the statistics for the failed to attend appointments is startling.
“People don’t turn up causing a hold up for others. I think the whole thing needs a review on how MOTs are carried out and the time frame it gives people to carry them out as well.
“A number of people have had to wait a certain length of time for a test and over that period their car is not able to be driven.”
Councillor Blake added that sending out reminder letters further in advance of MOT certificate expiry would be beneficial.
In August this year police had issued clarity on driving without a valid MOT certificate.
A police spokesman said, “It is an offence to use a vehicle of MOT test age that doesn’t have a current test certificate. PSNI cannot give you extensions.
“It is an offence to drive without a MOT certificate except in three circumstances: You are driving it to the test centre for a test you have already booked.
“It fails its MOT test and you are driving it away from the test centre to somewhere it can be fixed. It fails its MOT and you are driving it to or from a place where you had arranged for it to be fixed.”
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