Ministry O'Transport

Did you hear the one about the Irishman who wanted to get an MOT for his car?

Well he couldn't.

The BBC story is here.

Apparently, there are only 15 Test Centres in Northern Ireland - and they all have dodgy car-lifts.

Only fifteen!?  There are two in the village that I live in.

Yes, but they have a different system over there than us on the Mainland.  They don't let local garages do MOT Testing.  They have large centres with big and little doors for big and little vehicles:

So it prevents your dodgy local mechanic sticking his screwdriver through your CV-Joint Gaiter to make some extra work/money for himself.  "Dangerous that mate - good job I can fix it for you."

Problem is, the vehicles are not the only things that get regularly inspected.

The vehicles lifts in the test centres do too.

And faults have been found on 48 of the 55 vehicle lifts in those centres.

The faults seeming to be cracking:

Imagine having your car fail on needing welding when it is sat on one of those.

Sharp intake of breath - "That ain't going to cheap, mate."

In the meantime, testing has been suspended in Northern Ireland until a solution can be found with four-month extensions being given to the MOTs of cars which have had tests cancelled.

Apparently, the failure rate is 20% so there will be a lot of potentially dangerous cars driving about on these extended certificates.

And every Monday morning, a couple of transporters loaded up with NI cars come over here:

 

Haven't a clue where they're going but they must come off the Belfast Ferry and head South.

 

Perhaps they are going to a church.  Did you hear the one about the Irishman who took his car to a church?  He said it needed a service.