The MOT tester shortage will reach crisis point unless a dedicated apprenticeship for the MOT test is established, warns the Retail Motor Industry Federation (RMI).

Over the next 15 years many existing MOT testers will retire, and will need to be replaced. However, according to Ian Davis-Knight, RMI head of MOT and technical operations, there are not enough testers currently being recruited to succeed them. He said: 'Unless we do something now to promote the MOT tester route as a viable career option, by the time we reach the 2020s there might not be enough qualified testers.'

Davis-Knight commented: “This is an ideal opportunity for the RMI and the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) to get together to start discussions with the Automotive Skills Council about setting up an apprenticeship for MOT testers. This would make it much easier for those interested in becoming testers to qualify. The RMI, through its training body ReMIT, is ideally placed to implement such a qualification.”

Davis-Knight added, “Young people are just not aware of the concept of becoming an MOT tester. Without a qualification to which they can relate, they cannot even imagine wanting to become a tester.”