How to fail the NCT with a car in perfect working order . .

R

RevJamesFlynn

Guest
Interesting experience today.

The friendly chap at the NCT centre explained that although the car was in excellent mechanical condition, and had passed all the required tests, he had to fail it.

This was because the little phrase above the registration number on the registration plate, which is required by law to be the name of the county "As Gaeilge" was spelt incorrectly.

The official translation for the County Louth is "An Lu" - my plates only have "Lu", so the car failed the test.

I took a quick look around the building for the "Candid Camera" TV crew, as this *had* to be a wind-up, but they weren't to be seen.

It's a fair cop - the plate is obviously incorrectly spelt. I'm not complaining, I just figured I'd escaped the clutches of the Irish Language Extremists once I left secondary school.

Now I find out the Gaeilge Mullas have declared a jihad on incorrect spelling of Car Registration plates.

Oh the insanity . . . .
James
 
Re: How to fail the NCT with a car in perfect working order

Did you leave your hub caps on or something?

All you have to do is get a pen and make the correction to the number plates. A retest will be free (but a nuisance) as it's just a visual inspection.
 
Re: How to fail the NCT with a car in perfect working order

Did you not read the requirements before you went in that stated the fact that the counties must be named in Irish above the registration number???
 
Re: How to fail the NCT with a car in perfect working order

Well spotted NCT guys, the number of accidents that result from an incorrectly spelt number plate must be quite high to rate a fail. Probably all the drivers behind seeing the incorrect spelling, end up in a state of shock at the audacity and carelessness of it all and crash.

Does that mean that all those boy racers with the fancy plates and flashing disco lights under the car fail the NCT as well?
 
Re: How to fail the NCT with a car in perfect working order

Does that mean that all those boy racers with the fancy plates and flashing disco lights under the car fail the NCT as well?
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It does if they dont change them before they go in, which I presume they do.

Well spotted NCT guys, the number of accidents that result from an incorrectly spelt number plate must be quite high to rate a fail.
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It's down to the same old story, people giving out that failed the NCT over stupid little things. This really annoys me, there is no secret rules or conditions that they have to fail you, they are all plainly written in the leaflet, and all you have to do is comply with these and you will pass. Easy as that.
 
Re: How to fail the NCT with a car in perfect working order



The NCT and number plates was discussed here very recently.

ajapale
 
NCT

At least you got a free mechanics test on your car, be it a mechanic from Holland, who taught these guys irish anyway.

No I can sell my car knowing exactly whats wrong with it ......
 
Re: NCT

The official translation for the County Louth is "An Lu" - my plates only have "Lu", so the car failed the test.
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Hi James

This might be worth checking with Irish language enthusiasts or the likes of Foras na Gaeilge. I have seen Louth teams denoted as both "An Lú" and "Lú" in GAA programmes and on the old electronic scoreboard in Croke Park. Sometimes certain placenames can have more than one valid spelling in Irish - differences abound between "Munster Irish" and "Donegal Irish" for example. Your numberplate might be more correct than you think.

IMHO the NCT test is an absolute joke and should be abolished. If your car veers an inch to the left or to the right on the day of a test, it will fail. Fair enough, in that case you go off and fix it. Problem is that if you hit a pothole 2 minutes after passing the test, your steering could be awry (and thus according to the NCT people, inherently dangerous) for the next 2 years !until the next test. Therefore the whole exercise is meaningless.
 
Re: NCT

Did you not read the requirements before you went in that stated the fact that the counties must be named in Irish above the registration number???
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Of course, but should they be in the Modh Choinnealleach or Tuisceal Ginneachach?

I only did pass Irish in the Inter, though I've managed to hide this handicap successfully for most of my adult life. Until now.

The tale was intended as a warning to you all, rather than as a complaint. My lax, immoral and even ungrammatical ways have finally been brought to an end by those brave boys in blue, the NCT inspectors, who protect our society from utter anarchy!

Learn from the mistakes I've made - redemption (and even forgiveness) is possible - don't forget to put the "An" before "Lu" on your number plates.

Boola Bus ar na Buachailli NCT!

Is muishe lemass,
-- An Reveraind Gearoid Naoi Floinn
 
Re: NCT

I think the slagging over number plate spelling is a valid point - the NCT is there to ensure that cars are roadworthy, the incorrect spelling of the name on a plate has no bearing on the roadworthiness of the car from a safety point of view.

For example, if yiou fail for having the back seat belts trapped under the seat, fair enough, that is a safety point. But picking on small aspects of your car that are meaningless in a safety sense wins no friends, especially if you maintain your car to high standard.

Sure I still see bangers on the road belching crap and wonder how they manage to pass an NCT test.

It is an important test, but one which should focus more on the cars safety and enviromental asepcts and not the aesthetics.
 
Re: NCT

the NCT is there to ensure that cars are roadworthy, the incorrect spelling of the name on a plate has no bearing on the roadworthiness of the car from a safety point of view.
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Having standards for reg plates is very sensible. We've all seen the boy racers with their italicised 'cool' plates which make it very difficult to catch their number as they zoom past you. So I guess the rule to have the county name spelt correctly is just one of a set of rules to ensure the reg plate meets the standard. Without such rules, you are going to have the NCT tester making a judgement call regarding what level of mis-spelling is acceptable (e.g. An Liu, An Loo, Lucy Liu etc etc). IF this were the case, we'd have the whingers squeeling on AAM about those terrible NCT men who let their neighbour through but failed them for a different misspelling. The simple way around this is to set the standard, and you either get it right or you fail.
 
Re: NCT

But why do they need the county name (in Irish no less) when this information is already contained in the registration number itself? Seems like a bit of pointless redundancy to me. But I agree that there should be standards for these things.
 
Re: NCT

The real kick in the teeth is that these boy racers have the original reg plate which they just put back on when they leave the place.
 
Re: NCT

So I guess the rule to have the county name spelt correctly is just one of a set of rules to ensure the reg plate meets the standard. Without such rules, you are going to have the NCT tester making a judgement call regarding what level of mis-spelling is acceptable (e.g. An Liu, An Loo, Lucy Liu etc etc).
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My car passed the NCT last August even though there was no county name on my rear number plate! So someone is making indeed judgement calls...
 
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