Delays mean that waiting times to have imported vehicles examined for roadworthiness currently stand at six weeks.

This is compared to the usual time of two weeks, with infrastructure minister Tim Crookall explaining that the delay was ‘in part due to the time required for the examiners to close down the operations at the vehicle testing centre in readiness for their relocation to the new one, with fewer tests taking place during this time’.

However, he also noted that ‘waiting times have never returned to pre-Covid levels’ due to other factors, such as pandemic staffing issues and a vehicle examiner retiring.

He agreed that the wait times were not acceptable at the moment, but that nothing can be done.

Less tests will also be carried out during the TT period, due to the inaccessibility of the site and the need for vehicle examiners to be on hand to inspect crashes.

He explained there were currently no plans to introduce MOTs here or have private businesses licensed to conduct vehicle checks, but there is no reason it couldn’t be looked at in the future.