Date

Development

June 2002

Time trials undertaken at Lisburn indicate that full tests (including testing of smoke emission and catalytic converter) are taking between 25 and 29 minutes to complete, but confirmed that a 27-minute test was generally the norm.

October 2002

Objectives of the JWG extended to specifically include the identification of issues which are preventing the achievement of an 18-minute test.

November 2002

Time trials conducted in Larne on the basis of new layouts, set-ups and sequences fail to show any scope for improvement on the 27-minute test.

April 2003

JWG meet to discuss results of further time trials conducted in Belfast and Cookstown in February and March 2003. Agreement reached that a full test can be completed in 27 minutes, within a 30-minute booking slot, with the existing equipment and processes. These trials demonstrated that Stages 1 and 4 of the test were consistently in excess of the contract's performance indicators, and that times were improved when fewer than three men were working on a lane, due to waiting times being reduced.

June - July 2003

Meetings of JWG and of DVTA's and contractors' 'principals' conclude that 6 minutes of the 27-minute test time is attributable to waiting times between test stages. Agreement is reached on 13 main items that had the potential to reduce test times. Contractors agree to arrange to have modifications developed and introduced at Larne over the next two months, so that a "final" set of time trials could be conducted.

November 2003

JWG meet to discuss final time trials conducted at Larne. The introduction of modifications and additional equipment show some improvement in test times. Contractors consider that these indicate that a 23-minute test within a 23-minute booking slot is possible. However, analysis of results by Central Statistics and Research Branch13 indicates 95 per cent confidence that the overall time for cars sampled is between 22 minutes 39 seconds and 23 minutes 57 seconds. On this basis, DVTA conclude that a test time of 23 minutes could only be sustained in a 26-minute booking slot. However, the contractors are unwilling to accept that a 26-minute booking slot is required. At a subsequent meeting of DVTA and contractors' 'principals', the contractors agree to produce a report that will outline recommendations on resolving the test time problems. One conclusion of the contractors' report was that the time taken by examiners to complete the under-body inspection at the final stage of the test had been much longer during monitored time trials than during live operations.