Photos: MOT database targets illegal cars

The MOT computerisation project is the single biggest change to the testing scheme since it was introduced in the 1960s. The 10-year £230m private finance initiative (PFI) contract was awarded by the Vehicle & Operator Services Agency (Vosa) to Siemens Business Services (SBS) in 2000.

Vosa began linking garages to the central database last April and has now completed the rollout to all 18,500 authorised MOT testing stations in the UK - three years later than originally planned.

But Alex Fiddes, director of the private vehicles sector at Vosa, told silicon.com: "This is not a simple IT system and we said we would not rush to meet artificially imposed milestones."

Photo credit: Siemens Business Services