Failing the NCT
Some years ago they introduced a National Car Test here in Ireland.
At the time, I thought is was a good idea, as there were a lot of cars on the road that only had one working light, or even none at all. It wasn’t unusual to see some hick farmer with his arse hanging out of his trousers, driving a car with it’s arse hanging out as well.
Of course, over the years, the government has seen this as a nice little money spinner, and now they test for all sorts of stupid fucking things.
If they don’t like the look of the colour they’ll fail you.
If the car is dirty they’ll fail you.
If the fucking clock is two minutes slow, they’ll fail you.
Normally, they write and say when the car is due for its test. This happens every two years, so it’s easy to forget.
They never wrote. FAIL.
I though I had better check, so I went into their website.
The fucking site takes ages to load and their database keeps crashing. FAIL.
I eventually got into their database and entered my car registration number, and the date of registration, which I got off the Registration Certificate.
The site crashed another couple of times, but eventually came up with a message – they had never heard of my car. FAIL.
I tried ringing the number they give on their site. In fact I tried numerous times over the course of a morning.
Always engaged. FAIL.
I am really getting pissed off with them now. They are a shower of incompetent fucking wankers, and they need to get their act together. How the hell am I supposed to get my car tested if their website doesn’t work, their database is out of date and they don’t answer the phone?
They have been tested and they FAIL.
It’s 5 penalty points now and a big fine if you don’t have an NCT or MOT cert. Or at least it will be from May.
That’s why the site is down so they can milk us for all we are worth.
Here is a link about the new penalty points:
http://url.ie/1g26
And what’s worse from next month its a 5 (yes FIVE !!) penalty point offence to drive a vehicle without an NCT cert. It’s 3 points for not fixing a fault identified by an NCT test, whether that means a total of 8 I’m not sure, since you don’t get a new cert until all such faults have been fixed?
Tom
Weird, I’ve just been over to Twenty’s and he’s ranting about the NCT as well. Both his and your posts yesterday were similar too. Only for the fact I’ve met you both I’d think ye were the same person!
Robert – I finally managed to phone them [and had to hang on for about half an hour], and they told me the news about the five points. I hadn’t heard about it ’til then.
Tom – They can whistle. I applied for the damned thing, and if they can’t fit me in before the 1st May, then that’s their fault. I have a little message on my mobile to say it’s booked, so I can show that to the Gardaí before I tell ’em to fuck off.
Robert – I noticed that! Weird. I wonder what we are writing about tomorrow?
Can we give the NCT themselves 5 points for failing?
This is a farce.
The next thing is the test will be corporate sponsored and you’ll have to have Topaz fuel and Michelin tyres to pass.
But they do have a nice vending machine and viewing gallery at Deansgrange. Such delights add so much to the richness of the experience.
What if you’re not on the net (God forbid I know but many older people aren’t). We just lob up to a mechanic and get an electronic pink slip. No MOT unless you’re out of rego for more than a year. Hence my ability to drive a decrepit jalopy on Sydney streets.
TheChrisD – I have already failed them.
Maxi – The last time I did the test, the little fucker tried to fail me because there were dog hairs on the seat!! Dog hairs apparently render a vehicle unroadworthy.
Ian – It’s a kip, and no amount of vending machines will change that. The give you a balcony so you can watch your car fail in style.
Baino – There is no escaping it here, unless of course your car is kept on an island that doesn’t have a fixed link to the mainland. Hah!
I’d have told him there was dog hairs on his ma.