DOE Minister Arlene Foster visited Driver and Vehicle Agency (DVA), Coleraine today. The Minister was shown around various sections and chatted to staff.
She said: “I recognise that this is a difficult period for staff because of work going to Swansea. But I know that redeployment opportunities are being identified and efforts are ongoing to source other work for Coleraine.”
The Minister was shown a demonstration of an automatic Number Plate Reader (ANPR) camera which is used to detect unlicensed vehicles.
Mrs Foster said: “I am pleased to see that motor tax evasion has now been reduced to five per cent but we need to continue the efforts as many unlicensed vehicles also have no MOTs or no insurance.
“Road safety is one of my key priorities and we need to get such vehicles off the road.”
NOTES TO EDITORS:
- Driver & Vehicle Licensing Northern Ireland (DVLNI) and Driver & Vehicle Testing Agency (DVTA) merged on 1 April 2007 to form the Driver & Vehicle Agency (DVA) – an Executive Agency within the Department of the Environment. DVA has two main areas of work – testing and licensing. The primary aim of testing is to promote road safety by operating fair and efficient systems of testing for both vehicles and drivers. The Agency also undertakes enforcement activities through vehicle roadside checks throughout Northern Ireland.
- In January 2007 an announcement was made that the DVLNI and DVLA (Swansea) IT systems would be integrated, and that this would incur job losses.
- Automatic Number Plate Reader (ANPR) cameras are carried on special DVA vehicles to detect unlicensed vehicles.
