Dublin motorists are facing delays of up to six months for an NCT due to Covid-19 delays and equipment issues.
It comes after industry expert Joey Donnelly told Newstalk that they are experiencing a backlog in NCT tests caused by a surge in Covid-19 infections as well as equipment issues at NCT centres.
He explained: “We get a mass of Covid infections in the Christmas and January period.
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"But added on top of that, right before the pandemic hit, the NCT centres themselves had a problem with an equipment failure and it created a massive backlog."
And one Dublin listener, Karen, called in to say that her NCT has recently expired but that the next available test date she could get was in August, which is five months away.
She said: “My actual NCT has expired as of two days ago but I got an email a while back to say because of Covid that it had been granted an extension.
“So I had a look just to see how soon I’d be able to get one, my new date should be May 19 but the closest I’ve been able to get is towards the end of August."
Karen said that she had tried three centres in Dublin but that all of them are experiencing a backlog in offering NCT tests.
And she is "very concerned" about what would happen to her if she is stopped by Gardaí without a valid NCT
She said: "I had a look on the NCT website and it seems to be the same across the country.
“There’ll be hundreds of thousands of us driving around the country with an expired NCT."
Mr Donnelly advised anyone else in Karen’s situation to email or ring the NCT to try and get placed on their priority list.
For more information and advice on how to book NCT tests click here.
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