The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) has published its Authorised Testing Facilities (ATF) contract and announced that three operators – Wincanton, TruckEast and Scania (Great Britain) Limited – have signed up to run ATFs.
VOSA staff will carry out testing at ATFs, which will be located at fleet operators, owners and maintainers’ premises. The introduction of ATFs aims to:
Move testing closer to the customer and the point of vehicle maintenance and repair
Provide greater customer choice and flexibility and reduce overall vehicle ‘downtime’.
Chief Executive, Alastair Peoples, said: “We have been working very closely with industry to develop an ATF contract that suits everyone’s needs and I am delighted that the first contracts have been signed by Wincanton, TruckEast and Scania; these signatures are a strong indication of industry support for the initiative.
“Launching the contract is a key milestone for VOSA and one that will help us achieve our aim of taking testing closer to the customer.”
Dave Rowlands, Technical Services Director at Wincanton, said: “Now that we have signed the contract, we intend to spread our ATFs across the country via our Pullman Fleet Services vehicle maintenance business. We want to see the benefits of testing and maintaining at the same location sooner rather than later. We look forward to enhancing our service by offering testing on a national basis, which will also help increase business efficiency for our customers.”
John Biggin, Managing Director of TruckEast Ltd, said: “I am delighted to have TruckEast Wellingborough appointed as one of the first ATFs in the UK. This is a significant step towards reducing unnecessary journeys and realising more consistent test results as vehicles will be tested at their place of repair and maintenance. This will benefit both operators and repairers. We will be investing in other ATFs throughout our group with the next one to come on line in the spring at our Stowmarket branch.”
Tony Tomsett, General Manager of Service Operations at Scania (Great Britain) Limited, said: “Together with TruckEast, the Scania dealer for the Home Counties and East Anglia, we are delighted to be at the forefront of this new and customer-focused initiative. Not only does it streamline the testing procedure by aligning it more closely to the maintenance cycle, it is also in line with our commitment to provide operators with total transport solutions dedicated to maximising uptime in the most convenient manner possible.”
The approach builds on VOSA’s extensive experience of testing at VOSA and private sector sites, whilst ensuring the responsibility for signing-off vehicle roadworthiness is retained by the Agency.
