Article : NCT Staff under pressure to reach failure targets

alleepally

Right, maybe people have already had a suspicion about the NCT rigged e.g you go to a garage for a pre-NCT and it passes but NCT fails. etc.

This article in the Sunday Indo should surely have an immediate reaction from Brennan but I've not head anything yet.

I'm really flabbergasted by the content of the article. Anyone who has done an NCT and failed should surely be entitled to a refund if there is any question over the integrity.

Her is the full article as not everyone will be able to read it unless you've signed up for Unison....

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A Sunday Independent investigation can reveal that management at the National Car Testing (NCT) company monitors failure levels at their centres, and when these fall below what is seen as an acceptable level, pressure is put on local managers to have more cars failed by vehicle inspectors.

According to a number of staff, as many as 150,000 cars per annum are failed in order to keep the figures right for the company. In 2003, 303,000 cars were failed at the first inspection and this produced over €9m in additional income for the company.

An internal document sent to one centre manager from NCT head office states, "As discussed this morning on the phone the fail rate in Abbeyfeale (25.9 per cent) and Youghal (29 per cent) have dropped very low in the last period . . . . Please let me know what action you take in relation to this and any feedback. Regards." At the end of the document it read "PS for the last period Skib was up at 38 per cent !!!! (Not bad at all)."

Team leaders at a number of centres have told the Sunday Independent that when the failure levels fall, managers are sent in to prepare reports on individual inspectors who are then pressurised to change work practices so that more cars fail the initial test. A number of vehicle inspectors said that if they complain about the pressure, or if they do not achieve the expected fail rate, they will lose their jobs.

The Sunday Independent asked the NCT management about the monitoring and the reason this is done. The company declined to comment.

Team leaders at a number of centres have complained to management that machines are run-down and faulty which is resulting in more cars being failed than should be. One team leader, Peter Bainczyk, was so concerned that he wrote to management in November 2002.

He said that because the equipment gets worse from week to week he decided to put the company on notice of his concerns. He said that in spite of many complaints to management, no action has been taken. He stated: "We have no bulbs for the cable torches on stage three so we have to make an estimate, not a qualified test."

The team leader went on to say that because of problems with miscalibrated rotophons, cars are failing that should in fact pass. "I would say that 30 per cent of the cars failed on the emissions are failed incorrectly in our test centre."

He told the company in 2002: "If there is ever a check by the Department of Enterprise, Government or similar organisations, there is a lot of trouble ahead for NCT."

Team leaders also said the firm had adopted a policy of replacing Irish mechanics with non-EU nationals. When NCT started there were 42 mechanics employed in Dublin on the day shift and all were Irish nationals. Today there are only eight Irish and about 34 non-EU nationals.

The union which represents the workers in NCT has written to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment expressing concerns that qualified Irish mechanics cannot gain employment with NCT yet it continues to obtain permits to employ non-EU workers.


"The company is employing non-EU nationals as a means of undermining the union's claims for improvements in the pay and conditions of our members despite this sector being ineligible for work permits under your own guidelines and procedures. Your own procedures clearly state that mechanic-motor applicants are not eligible for permits . . . (Please) inform us as to how the NCT has managed to continue to obtain permits despite this group being exempt," the union wrote.

The company has also been advised of results being altered by a senior staff member at the centre for a family member. The car was failed over a dangerous back axle and the customer accepted thisdecision.

However, when the senior staff member heard of the failure he changed the result on computer. The Sunday Independent has copies of both certificates. The only difference between them is that the failure reasons given have been removed from the second certificate. The vehicle inspector then learned the car belonged to the senior staff member's brother.

MarkR

Looks like it really is a money racket.

John R

A class-action lawsuit from everyone who ever got a fail cert methinks.

ondafly

I fookin knew it.

dcGT

NCT......for safer, cleaner, more expensive motoring......
An absolute disgrace!


DC.

Gmodified

bastardos, made me replace good few parts in my car

Our man in Havana

May I refer the honourable members to this thread

alleepally

I think this goes beyond anything in a previous thread about the NCT. This is documentary evidence of the fiddling that goes on. I can't understand why there's not more of an uproar over this.

Mac daddy

I knew that they were at it i had a pre test done and the car was perfect a week later when the test was due the failed me:dunno:
Sneaky bastards just another way to get more money out of people.
I hope they get sued left right and center assholes:mad:

vinnyfitz

My Ma, whose car is in good nick, went for the test the other day and was rejected 'cos the exhaust emissions were allegedly "9.9" - I think 3.9 is the max allowed.

Anyway she went to her own garage today to get it sorted and the machine there said the result was 1.3!

The garage claim that NCT operatives don't clean their machines often enough so if you get a few smokey cars in a row the emissions levels register way high by the time its your turn.
He also said the NCT guys should have known there was something wrong as, at 9.9, the entire test centre would have been full of smoke.

So now Ma has to go back to the test centre and pay €27 just to prove its OK even though nothing was done to it in the garage. She'll look for her money back but what odds on her getting it?

The profit margins on retests are obviously much higher for the NCT guys. It smells like a scam. But who do you complain to?

Suggestion to the mods:
Create a sticky on "National Car Test (NCT) flaws and redress" and maybe we can pool experiences? Who knows, - some of the journos who wander around boards.ie might write it up?

Our man in Havana

Originally posted by vinnyfitz

Suggestion to the mods:
Create a sticky on "National Car Test (NCT) flaws and redress" and maybe we can pool experiences? Who knows, - some of the journos who wander around boards.ie might write it up?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?postid=1719455#post1719455

pointless suggestion

vinnyfitz

Without joining in that particular row it does seem that Neil3030 has not been around for 6 weeks or more.

Neil what do you think of my suggestion?

What does anyone else think of it?

ChipZilla

I'd be surprised if people were surprised at this news. I've been a victim of the old indicator bulb colour one myself :mad:

A name and shame sticky mightn't be a bad idea...

dcGT

Originally posted by ChipZilla

A name and shame sticky mightn't be a bad idea...

Indeed, just to get an idea of what kind of things people are failing on

DC.

vinnyfitz

Welcome to the new mods.
What about a sticky as suggested before on NCT flaws and redress?