MEDIA COVERAGE about low pass rates at National Car Testing Centres was cited by a former inspector as his reason for putting influence on colleagues to pass a vehicle that had already failed, an Employment Appeal Tribunal heard yesterday.
Rory Cunningham (59), who worked for Vicuna Ltd (formerly National Car Testing Service Ltd) in the Cahir testing centre in Co Tipperary from 1999 until 2009, admitted to becoming “involved” in a test he should not have on May 7th, 2009, an action that eventually led to him being dismissed.
“People were getting on to the media for stupid fails,” he told the tribunal.
Mr Cunningham listed radio station Tipp FM as one outlet that were beginning to carry complaints at the time from the public about the extra financial burden being imposed on drivers having to pay for repairs after failed National Car Tests (NCTs).
He added that penalty points were beginning to be imposed around the time and that it had recently been decided that an NCT certificate was needed to sit a State driving test.
When the car of a man who Mr Cunningham knew failed a test in the Cahir Centre, Mr Cunningham agreed to check it himself at the man’s house.
He told the tribunal that after inspecting the car, he came to the conclusion that it should have passed and agreed to ask one of his colleagues could they have it rechecked.
The car was subsequently failed by numerous other testers before repairs were carried out. While Mr Cunningham denies the allegation, colleagues accused him of becoming “very abusive” in an effort to have the car passed.
He was fired in June 2009 after a company investigation where, according to Mr Cunningham’s legal team, fair procedures “were not followed in any sense of the word”.