States urged to put local businesses first in MOT tender

Monday 16 November 2020

The President of the Guernsey Motor Trades Association has voiced his confidence that local businesses are "more than capable" of winning a tender for MOT-style testing, saying it "doesn't need to be farmed out" to overseas contractors.

The States of Guernsey are looking for garages to hep them introduce vehicle testing that will bring standards in line with legal road expectations in the UK and EU. It follows a need for our driving rights to be protected in the EU following Brexit and is also seen as an opportunity to get vehicles that are not roadworthy off of the roads.

The tender is open to anyone; however, Robert Cornelius hopes that it’ll be won by a local firm or partnership.

“Our belief in the industry is that there is enough capacity in terms of size of premises, monetary investment and skilled workers here already," he said. 

Pictured: Specialist equipment will be required to properly test local vehicles.

The tender document highlights a need for the premises to be a certain size to accommodate a test bay and for the capital to be available for installation. 

“Local businesses are more than capable of completing this,” said Mr Cornelius. "This doesn’t need to be farmed out to a third party.”

The States said last week that discussions have already been held with people in the motor industry to try and find a company or partnership willing and able to start a testing regime in Guernsey

The phased introduction of vehicle testing has been altered due to the current pandemic; however, the pieces will need to start falling into place next year. The tender can be found here. 

Pictured top: Mr Cornelius would like the 'Revive and Thrive' ethos to be applied to the tender process.