The Forum, an informal consortium of motor trade bodies with MoT testing stations in their membership and other interested parties, has contacted the Department for Transport raising serious concerns over the continuing delay in issuing a consultation review dealing with the future of the MoT.

The MOT Trade Forum believes that three years on, any further uncertainty is totally unacceptable. Chairman Jim Punter said: “Government should either publish the consultation now or drop the two-yearly MoT Test proposal altogether and announce that the MoT test will remain unchanged.”

And in a warning to Government that moving away from an annual MoT could impact on road safety, Mr Punter said: “It is no coincidence that European road accident trends indicate that countries with annual tests also have lower deaths and injuries caused by road accidents. A change to two-yearly testing will inevitably result in a significant increase in deaths and serious injuries on Britain’s roads.”

The renewal of photocard licences is an issue that has already been raised by Jaama, which earlier this year urged fleet decision-makers to check the validity of all at-work drivers’ licences.

The first photocard driving licences were issued in July 1998 and they remain valid for 10 years.

However, a total of 16,136 licences have now expired, but figures from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency reveal that so far only 11,566 drivers have renewed, leaving 4,570 outstanding.

The cost of renewing a photocard driving licence is £17.50 and a failure to hold a valid driving licence could mean a £1,000 fine.

A further 300,000 photocard driving licences are due to expire over the next 12 months with around 25 million having been issued to date.

However, many drivers with lapsed licences will be unaware that they are breaking the law because the photocard licences do not display the expiry date clearly.

Importantly, a company that allows an employee to drive a vehicle without a valid licence is also liable to prosecution. It would also invalidate insurance.

Jaama says that licence checking should be the most obvious basic risk management first step for all businesses as they get to grips with ever-tougher legislation targeted at improving driver safety and removing dangerous drivers from the UK’s roads.

A DVLA spokesman said the organisation had written to all motorists informing them that their photocard driving licence was due to expire.

Businesses have called for the fuel duty escalator to be scrapped and not postponed, which was the move announced by Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling earlier this month.

Responding to the Chancellor’s decision to postpone October’s planned 2p increase in fuel duty, David Frost, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, welcomed the delay, but added: “The 2p fuel duty increases no longer serve their original purpose.

“The high price of fuel is bringing down demand and the revenue expected from the tax hikes has already been generated in the form of a multi-million pound windfall.

“Businesses are being pushed to the absolute edge by the painfully high price of petrol at the pump, with many firms left with no choice but to pass on extra costs to the hard up consumer.

“Clearly, in the current economic environment this is an unacceptable situation. Postponing autumn’s 2p hike is a step in the right direction, but businesses would like to see this needless tax scrapped altogether.”

London Mayor Boris Johnson has scrapped proposals for an emission-based congestion charge that would have seen a £25 fee for high-emission vehicles and low-emission vehicles being exempt from charges.

The Mayor made the announcement as vehicle manufacturer Porsche’s legal attempts to get the £25 charge over turned reached the High Court. The High Court confirmed that the paperwork necessary to end the proposal had been completed.

As a result, Mr Johnson claimed that the CO₂ charge was ‘no more’ and that the scrapping of the measures meant that he had delivered on an election manifesto promise.

Former London Mayor Ken Livingstone had announced that changes to the capital’s congestion charge would come into effect in October.

Mr Johnson said: “My commitment to making the congestion charge fairer and more effective for Londoners is well known. I am delighted that we have been able to scrap the £25 charge, which would have hit families and small businesses hardest. I believe the proposal would actually have made congestion worse by allowing thousands of small cars in for free.”

The decision by the Mayor means that the discount for alternative fuel vehicles will remain in place and the existing congestion charge scheme will not be affected.