Shropshire garages plunged into MoT chaos

Nigel Guest, of Madeley Testing Station, in Telford, said his staff had also been forced to work through their lunch break to get as many cars tested as possible.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) this month switched to issuing MoTs through a "cloud-based" computer system, allowing data to be recorded on mobile phones and computer tablets.

But computer problems became so bad that officials asked garages to issue old-style hand-written MoT certificates to drivers and manually send the details to the DVSA.

Mr Guest said the system repeatedly crashed yesterday, causing a huge backlog of tests. He said: "We normally do around 50 in a day, but we've only been able to do about 40, and we've only managed that because we've had lads working through their breaks and dinner times. We've had to divert mechanics from other duties to doing MoT tests, and we've had to rebook some of the tests."

Greg Gamble, of Four Crosses Garage, in Shrewsbury, said the system was good when it was working, but it had crashed several times.

"We've lost one or two customers because they couldn't wait around," he said.

"We suspect a lot more than they expected were using the system on the first day, and it became overloaded."

Adrian Billingham, of Billingham's, in Bridgnorth, said he will not have to be connected up to the new system until next week, but was not looking forward to it.

"Every day this week I have had emails saying there had been problems with the system," he said.

Shropshire Euro MP Jill Seymour said drivers were being turned away from garages, leaving them with the choice of taking their cars off the road or driving illegally.

"At the very least, we need a reassurance from the Government that none of the drivers affected by this chaos will find themselves being fined for breaking the law," she said.

Mrs Seymour, Ukip's transport spokesman, said: "If garages try to resort to the old-style paper MoT certificates, they won't match up with the computer system if police try to carry out a check. It's a total mess."