Finally, the MOT Bay is up and running!

MOT Bay in operation

Opening up the MOT bay in July this year (2003) has been the culmination of 15 months of effort, dogged by bureacracy, cock-ups and generally poor service from bankers, accountants, builders, suppliers... to the point of being farcicle!

Not dwelling on the past, we thought we might chronicle some of the activities (excluding much of the noise from mishaps) that went into installing the MOT bay. It revolved around the following main activities:

  1. Getting the unit and getting permission from the landlord.
  2. Sorting out a design and selecting the supplier.
  3. Arranging for references and contracts for the vehicle inspectorate (VOSA)
  4. Getting approval from the vehicle inspectorate for the MOT bay
  5. Sorting out builders to prepare the pit and electricians to provide the wiring/power
  6. Arranging the delivery and installation of the equipment
  7. Cleaning up the unit and painting the floor and walls
  8. Attending vehicle inspectorate training for MOT Operations and Testing
  9. Getting final sign off by the inspectorate
One of the designs

Items 1-4 were actually quite straight forward, if somewhat slow to complete at times. The challenge here was to fit the 2 two-poster ramps, the MOT bay, the tyre fitter and the stores area into the unit without making it cluttered or difficult to work in. The two-posters were specially selected to be thin but still able to lift 3 tonnes.

One of the team here had the brain-wave of having one of the two-posters in reverse, so that the car would face outwards rather then inwards. This helped to free up the critical few inches that allowed us to ensure compliance with VOSA regs on MOT bay access, and be able to have both two posters operational at the same time. Use of scaled drawings helped to ensure the planning and layout would work. We even cut pieces out to represent vehicles and ensure there was ample space to manoevre without risk of damage.

First stage completed

We split the work into two parts: the first part was to get all the electrics, the tyre fitter and wheel balancer and the 2 two-posters installed. This would help us to get the unit up and running whilst the paperwork for the MOT bay was sorted. This seemed to be smoothly done, though one of the two-posters had to be repaired.

Cutting out the floor

Items 5 and 6 would turn out to be the biggest challenges. The builders dutifully discussed the requirements for the pit with Sun/Snapon and the unit sealed up to protect the rest of the equipment and stores from the dust (no mean feat in itself). Then the building work began - what a lot of noise they created! However, the work was done professionally and efficiently. First the floor Chiselling out the pit was cut out using circular saws. Then the pit was chiselled it out with a huge jack-hammer. Finally the edges were finished off, the polythene water seal laid, and the new base concrete laid. All seemed to be running fine until...

...they came to fit the bay. And so it was, the worst that could happen: the pit wasn't deep enough! Had it been too deep, it would've been easy to fill it in. Had it been the wrong size, it could have been easily enlarged. Even if it'd been in the wrong place, it could've been corrected, but no; Laying out the seal it had to be the worst-case scenario. So...after much discussion and exploring alternatives, they finally decided to dig the hole again! So back went all the equipment and stores covers, and in came the jack hammers to mess up our newly painted pit! The whole episode added an extra two months, and so we missed the promised April/May opening day (and with it, the spring MOT season).

Eventually, the pit was complete, and the safes and equipment installed. Then followed an agonising period whilst all the tee's were crossed and the i's dotted. The guys from VOSA were very thorough, but very fair. We attended our training courses (Anne and I on the MOT Manager's course, and John on the MOT Testers course, which we all passed with flying colours), and finally we got the sign-off and the permission to receive the all important certificates.

Blind leading the blind to work out the computerised gas analyser

On June 16th, the MOT bay was finally commissioned, and the rest, as they say, is history. We've since had some niggly problems with the equipment, and its taken a while for my Dad to get used to computers and the new gas analyzer, but we're now sorted and settled. We also lost one employee (Carl), who was poached by a competing MOT station, but gained another (Marcus, also an experienced and accomplished MOT Tester), who has been a great addition to the team.

All the modern gadgets for the testers

From a computing perspective, we have also put in the networking, as in 2004 the new computerised MOT test is supposed to be rolled out. This involves using a special PC system to connect to VOSA whilst the MOT is being done. Our gas analyser was selected to be "future proof" as it also has to provide emission test results direct to VOSA. The days of having MOT certificates are nearly over.

So just spare a thought, when you come to get your car MOT'd, and curse at the hassle of getting your car passed: its only partially comparable with the frustrations we've endured in bringing you this service. However, you can be rest-assured that your mini will be judged fairly and safely!