Annual inspection of commercial vehicles to start next year

Thursday 07 December 2017

The rising number of commercial vehicles stopped in road checks in a "very poor and dangerous condition" has prompted the introduction of annual roadworthiness inspections.

Infrastructure Minister Deputy Eddie Noel said: “Unfortunately, road checks have uncovered some commercial vehicles in a very poor and dangerous condition. We cannot allow this to continue. We have been talking to the industry, where there has been significant support for the initiative. Those operators who take care of their vehicles will not find the scheme onerous.”

The Department for Infrastructure (DfI) will be bringing in a Vehicle Operator Licensing Scheme and the Minister says he'll start by implementing annual roadworthiness inspections (ARI) early in 2018.

The aim of Vehicle Operator Licencing is to set a basic standard of maintenance and inspections that should be expected for large commercial vehicles. 

Initially, inspections will be compulsory for all commercial vehicles over 7.5 tonnes, those passing the inspection will be issued with a Certificate of Compliance, which will be valid for 12 months. This will later be extended, in 2019, to include vehicles that fall into the over 3.5 to 7.5 tonnes category.