The Government Computer Awards has short listed the MoT system in the Best project – government to business category. The awards recognise people and projects involved in UK public sector technology. The system, which was introduced back in 2005 at a cost of £230m, was rolled out to all 18,700 private MoT garages across the UK in less than a year. The roll-out was implemented at no cost to the garages themselves and represented the biggest change to the MoT scheme since its introduction almost 50 years ago. That same year, however, the system experienced its first glitch in May.

A further two system failures in March last year saw the RMIF call on Vosa to take urgent action to address the problems. The agency also came in for scathing criticism over the implementation of its system in a Transport Select Committee report.

75% garages claim new MoT has boosted business 95% claim computerised system is easier to use Source: MORI

Within a few months Vosa confirmed that it had received more reports of garages being unable to gain access to the system. In a recent independent MORI survey, however, over 75 per cent of garages said the scheme had had a positive effect on business, while 95 per cent said it was easy to use. Alex Fiddes, Vosa's private vehicle director, said transforming the old paper-based system had been a massive task. He said: “It is testament to the flexibility of the garage owners and workers that MoT computerisation has been such a success.”