Tag Archives: Pro-mote campaign

motoring

50,000 jobs at risk – don’t do it

50,000 jobs are at risk if the Government decides to scrap the annual MOT test in favour of the EU’s every other year model. On behalf of UK women drivers everywhere… please say ‘No’ Justine.

Government proposals to end annual MOTs would put at risk up to 50,000 jobs in the retail motor trade disproportionately hitting apprenticeships, young employees and independent businesses, according to new research by Pro-MOTe.

In their report, “An MOT system that works”, Pro-MOTe explains that:
* Almost 150,000 people are employed in the UK as a direct result of MOT testing with 105,000 jobs in 21,000 testing stations and a further 42,000 in tyre and parts businesses;
* The retail motor industry employs a higher proportion of skilled workers (38%) compared to the UK as a whole (11%), and a higher proportion of 17 to 24 year-olds with more than 14,000 apprenticeships starting in 2009/10;
* MOT-related activity within the retail motor trade is valued at £2.35 billion.  Replacing the current 3-1-1 MOT regime in which cars and vans are tested at three years and every year thereafter to a 4-2-2 system in place in most of the rest of the EU would reduce income from fees and repair work by £1.06 billion;
* A reduction of trade in such a labour-intensive industry would put between 25,000 and 40,000 MOT tester jobs at risk with a further 8,000 jobs in related activity vulnerable too.

The Pro-MOTe report follows its earlier studies that found that reducing MOT frequency would risk causing up to 250 more deaths every year on UK roads and would cost the motorist an additional £57 a year.  Recent opinion polls have shown that the proposed changes are not supported by drivers themselves.

We are told that the Government will announce its decision tomorrow. One last attempt to influence them then…

How can they opt for anything other than the status quo with jobs and lives on the agenda? But why has it taken them SO LONG to say so, causing so many people unnecessary stress in the industry and the time it takes us all to canvass for common-sense. We don’t need the EU to tell us how to run the UK motor industry; we’re different from France and Germany, for example, and we know best for UK motorists in this instance.

FOXY

cost of motoring, women drivers

Women drivers face increased bills if annual MOTs scrapped

FOXY Lady Drivers Club supports today’s research findings that the cost to the UK of scrapping the annual MOT could be as much as £1.5 billion.

Government claims that reducing MOT frequency will also reduce the financial burden on motorists are challenged today in a report which shows the opposite – that proposals to scrap annual testing will hit both motorists and the UK economy hard.

The report by Pro-MOTe is titled “A cost too far” and includes research that the average female motorist would be more than £57 worse off under a less frequent MOT system than she is today.

It also shows that the overall cost to the UK in increased costs of road deaths, injuries and damage, as well as 40,000 lost jobs and reduced tax revenues, will be some £1.44bn.

The research compares costs of the existing 3-1-1 MOT system (where cars over three years are tested every year) with the 4-2-2 system more commonly used elsewhere in Europe (where cars over four years old are tested every two years).  It estimates that under 4-2-2, the average motorist would incur annual SAVINGS of £24.44 a year made up of:
– £20 a year in saved MOT fees
– £3.30 a year in saved personal time
– £1.14 a year in saved fuel costs as a result of fewer visits to a MOT station

But the average motorist would incur annual INCREASES of £81.81 under 4-2-2 from:
– £30.59 in additional repair costs
– £46.05 in additional insurance premiums
– £5.17 in additional fuel costs of £5.17

The research was carried out using data from the DfT and the Treasury, and motor industry sources.  Pro-MOTe is supported by the RAC, AA, road safety campaigners, industry groups and insurance companies to campaign against plans to reduce MOT frequency.

Commenting on the report, Pro-MOTe co-ordinator, Bill Duffy, said:

“This research shows that scrapping annual MOT testing would not only be dangerous but prove very expensive too, to both drivers and taxpayers alike. The Government has suggested that reducing the number of safety tests would reduce the financial burden on motorists.  Yet the truth is exactly the opposite.  Moving to two-yearly tests would mean extra repair costs, extra insurance premiums and extra fuel costs for already hard-pressed motorists. And the cost to the UK economy in lost jobs and higher costs arising from the additional accidents that we would see due to less frequent testing would be significant.”

Hear hear Bill. This is a poorly considered proposition and it’s time it was scrapped. This is also costing road safety, consumer organisations like ours and directly affected motor industry businesses a lot of unnecessary time and money attempting to do this research for our Government.

An interesting and possibly previously ignored dimension here seems to be that insurance companies plan to respond to the scenario of an increased number of unroadworthy cars by raising premiums for us all.   Then motorists would surely hold the Government responsible for another rise in the cost of motoring…

So it’s time to shut the UK’s back door to this proposal now. Heaven knows we all have more productive things to be getting on to benefit not threaten the UK economy and its motor industry.

FOXY

For further information go to the Pro-MOTe website or contact Ed Owen at EdO@pro-mote.org.uk or on 07774 759653. Pro-MOTe was launched in October 2011 to press the Government to drop plans to reduce the frequency of MOT testing. The launch report “Dangerous, expensive and unwanted” is available at http://www.pro-mote.org.uk/assets/download/PRO-MOTE_launch_report.pdf

Supporters of the Pro-MOTe campaign include AA, Andrew Page, Association of Professional Ambulance Personnel, Autoglass, Aviva, Brake, British Cycling, Confused.com, Driver’s Edge UK, Euro Car Parts, FOXY Lady Drivers Club, Garage Equipment Association, GEM Motoring Assist, Halfords Autocentres, Independent Automotive Aftermarket Federation, Kwik Fit, MOTEST, MOT Trade Forum, MOT Club, National Tyre Distributors Association, Parts Alliance, RAC, The Retail Motor Industry Federation, Road Safety Analysis, Road Safety GB, The Scottish Motor Trade Association, Tyre Industry Federation, UNITE.

road safety

Keep the UK MOT and save lives

British women say no to the EU MOT planOn behalf of all women drivers… FOXY Lady Drivers Club is supporting the PRO-MOTE campaign to keep the safer British MOT model in the face of a real EU threat.

The UK MOT industry is seriously threatened by a lesser EU alternative. Despite one in three cars failing their first MOT after just 3 years on our roads and most of us too busy to maintain our cars in between annual tests thereafter, the EU is attempting to impose a regime that tests our cars every other year, starting once they are 4 years old.

Instead of what is known as the UK 3-1-1 model the EU is attempting to sell us their 4-2-2 version yet their roads aren’t as safe as ours. That’s madness.

Which will mean many more unsafe cars on our roads, an increase in accidents as a result (there are illustrative statistics to prove this) and ‘000s of jobs lost in the UK’s motor industry.

After banging on the drum and getting nowhere with protests made by FOXY Lady Drivers Club to our Sussex MP Nick Herbert (and tweets to Philip Hammond who was in charge but just about to change platforms) we now have a new Transport Secretary, Justine Greening. I don’t envy her having to get to grips with this and red herring issues thrown into the mix, like increasing the speed limit on motorways. Whilst VOSA is changing the existing UK MOT model to include other items…

This is the perfect scenario for this BAD CHANGE to come in through the UK’s back door whilst no-one is standing guard, so to speak. In which case, mark my words, the cost of this apathy will be lost British lives on our roads and MOT industry jobs.

Which is why FOXY Lady Drivers Club is supporting the new PRO-MOTE campaign alongside other road safety groups, motoring organisations and industry bodies.

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION to show your support and pass it on as a priority.

Please don’t think that others will do the right thing for you. You have to do it for yourself. If not, and the EU MOT model is introduced, the cost could be a life or the job of somebody you know. Because nobody bothered to do the right thing. That includes YOU…

Go on, sign the petition now please!

FOXY

By all means see what I wrote about this earlier when I was canvassing support about the UK MOT model in my blog at confused.com. And see why women need their own motoring club to add their voice here…

Supporting organisations include FOXY Lady Drivers Club, the RAC, the AA, Brake, Aviva, Halfords, Kwik Fit and the Retail Motor Industry Federation.