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Date Published: 15/06/2022

ARCHIVED - Murcia ITV centres under scrutiny for passing dodgy cars

ARCHIVED ARTICLE

Unions in Murcia are up in arms over private ITV companies giving the all-clear to cars that aren’t road-worthy

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Murcia ITV centres under scrutiny for passing dodgy cars

Technical Vehicle Inspection stations, more commonly known as ITVs in Spain, have once again come under fire in the Region of Murcia for apparently giving cars a clean bill of health in order to keep profits, and customer demand, up.

Recently, 17 people working at an ITV centre in San Javier were arrested for falsifying vehicle inspections, a scam which has exploded since the regional government allowed private companies to carry out the checks in 2017. In the last five years, the number of ITV companies operating in the Region of Murcia has increased fivefold, with motorists often travelling from neighbouring communities to get their cars certified.

The 17 detainees at the San Javier ITV are accused of more than 1,000 crimes of false documents, 1,800 crimes of computer damage and belonging to a criminal organisation, according to the Guardia Civil.

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Now, regional union CSIF plans to present a case to the Prosecutor’s Office over the lack of control over the ITV process, as official statistics show that only one in ten vehicles tested in Murcian ITV centres fail on their first try – this ranks Murcia with the second-lowest ITV failure rate in all of Spain.

The unions are now demanding that the Ministry of Business create a body of inspectors dedicated to controlling the operation of private ITVs to prevent Murcia from continuing to be among the most permissive communities.

According to one union spokesperson, “the erroneous decision of the regional Executive to liberalise the sector has saturated the market. In fact, the ITV centres of the Murcian community have gone from 8 to about 45 and not only do they give ample evidence of poor service, but also the survival of many companies and jobs has been endangered.”

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Image: Pixabay

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