Hard Shoulder

A round-up of today's other stories in brief...

A round-up of today's other stories in brief...

NCT FIRM PROBING TIMESHEET ALLEGATIONS

Four vehicle testers at the National Car Test (NCT) centre in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, have been suspended for the alleged falsification of documentation, writes David Labanyi.

It is understood the suspensions relate to the alleged falsification of timesheets used by staff to clock in and clock out of work.

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The NCT service is run by Spanish firm Applus+ which secured the 10-year contract to run the service under tender from last January.

A spokeswoman for Applus+ said it was policy not to discuss employee matters. She declined to say if this was the first suspension the company had imposed.

She said that the Enniscorthy centre was operating normally and a full service was being provided.

The men, who remain on full pay, are contesting their suspension and have engaged a solicitor.

The AGEMO trade union, which is part of Siptu, represents car-testing staff, although not all of the suspended staff are members. It is understood the union met with the company last week but the suspensions were not part of these discussions.

During the first half of the year, significant numbers of motorists reported difficulties securing a test date on the NCTs website. Others complained they did not receive a reminder letter informing them that their car was due for a test shortly.

Issuing of a reminder notice is a performance requirement under Applus+’s contract with the Road Safety Authority.

The company said the reason for the high demand early in the year was in part due to the weighting of car registrations towards the start of the year combined with the knock-on impact of the introduction of penalty points for not having an NCT cert.

To address the high demand, the company has offered an overtime scheme to staff and also sought to increase its testing capacity by opening new centres and increasing throughput at some existing centres.

This increase in capacity is also to allow the firm provide pre-registration examinations for all used vehicles imported into the country.

This test is to prevent the misrepresentation of a vehicle’s specification. It will also seek to clamp down on the importation of luxury four-wheel drive vehicles that have been converted for commercial use before being converted back again after registration.

BMW OVERWHELMED BY DEMAND FOR WINTER WHEELS AND TYRES DEAL

The sudden conversion of Irish motorists to the merits of winter tyres has had a pretty immediate effect at BMW dealerships. The firm recently offered customers a set of winter wheels and tyres through its dealers, with prices starting at €828 for a 1-Series. It also offered to store the removed wheels while they were running on the winter ones.

However, by last week many of the tyres for popular models were already sold out. It seems a rapid increase in demand across Europe has left them short of stock on certain models, particularly the 5-Series. BMW says they have stocks for other models, such as the 1-Series and 3-Series and hope to replenish dealers in the near future.

REVAMPED KIA TO ‘BREAK THE MOULD’

Kia has released the first official design sketches of the next generation Picanto city car due for launch next March in Switzerland.

The new car takes its design cues from the Pop! concept car shown in Paris in September. It’s a more aggressive stance than the current model, but under the metal it will share much of its mechanical underpinnings with the next-generation Hyundai i10, with a new range of engines in the pipeline including a three-cylinder diesel. It’s still not clear if an electric version – in line with the “pop concept” – will ever see the light of day.

Exuding self-confidence, solidity and maturity, the car firm says the next generation Picanto is designed to break the city-car mould and will be officially unveiled at the Geneva International Motor Show in March 2011.