'Nothing less than coercion', Laois TD slams NCT cashless move

A Laois TD is accusing the National Car Test operators of ‘coercion’ over their move to cashless payments.  

Deputy Brian Stanley said the move by NCT car testing centres to go cashless must be stopped.

“This is nothing less than coercion. It is forcing people to put all their transactions through banks and is without any justification. Some people may not even be bank customers and may not want to be, that is their right,” said Dep Stanley. 

“Such a move will cause problems for many elderly people and motorists who are living in low-income households. It also needs to be taken into consideration there is resistance among a younger section of the population to going cashless.”

“It must also be considered that each card transaction has a charge, and every citizen is entitled not to have to deal with a private business every time they want to make a payment. It is a denial of free choice. Many people have genuine concerns about information and data that may be collected off people’s card every time they do a transaction or make a payment,” said Dep Stanley. 

“The claim by Applus, the firm running the NCT centres, that this is for people’s safety and convenience is nonsense. They further try to justify it on the basis of ‘no shows’ ie people not turning up for tests. The simple solution for this is to put a small penalty charge on people who do not keep their appointments,” he said. 

Laois Offaly TD wants Government to step in and stop the NCT going 'cashless'

The Minister for Transport needs to intervene immediately and halt this totally unjustified move by this private company. I have made representations to Minister Ryan in this regard,’’ said Deputy Stanley. 

He described the move as “completely out of order” and said it was going to cause problems for a lot of motorists.