Calls to privatise vehicle testing have been renewed in the House of Keys.

After hearing the average waiting time for owners of cars and vans that were due a test was six-week, Bill Shimmins (Middle) told the House of Keys: ’This has been a recurring problem for the last few years and it has caused inconvenience, disruption and poor service to the general public.

’Given that the Department (of Infrastructure) seems unable to provide this service, why does it not outsource to the private sector the inspection of cars, which is commonplace in most other jurisdictions?’

The government-run Vehicle Test Centre has already been accused of under-performing and there have been calls to adopt the UK model, where private businesses carry out inspections.

Last year, some taxi drivers complained they had been forced off the road due to delays in the annual tests required for public passenger vehicles.

Infrastructure Minister Ray Harmer admitted: ’There was a decision in the previous administration to cut the number of examiners. That is being reversed.’

He added: ’There is a full review, not just a review of service delivery methods but also a review of what testing is required.

’In terms of the service delivery model, does every car need to be tested if it has an MOT, depending on the age? All of those questions are being looked at.’

The UK has a different system of inspections, with annual MOT tests for nearly all vehicles, which are carried out by private firms. There is no annual MOT in the Isle of Man, although, in addition to annual inspections for commercial and passenger vehicles, all imported vehicles must undergo an initial inspection.

Mr Harmer said the DoI’s waiting time target was below four weeks for all vehicle types.

The waiting time for HGVs was five weeks, but it dropped down to two weeks for motorbikes.