MSA TO INTRODUCE CREDIT CARD STYLE LICENCES
The Motor Sports Association, the governing body of UK motor
sport, has announced plans to fast-track the introduction
of credit card licences, possibly for launch as early as next
year.
The MSA issues more than 34,000 licences every year, across
a variety of disciplines. Traditionally the licence has been
in a paper format, but with the increase in technology new
options have presented themselves. Since 2005, licences have
been equipped with barcodes to facilitate more efficient processing
of applications and this has enabled competitors to track
the progress of their licence applications on-line through
the MSA website.
"The introduction of bar coding has had a huge impact
on our service levels," says Colin Hilton, Chief Executive
of the Motor Sports Association. "We now turn round licences
in days rather than weeks and because people are able to follow
the progression of their licence, calls to the licensing department
have dropped by about 80%, leaving the staff free to process
them ever more quickly."
The next stage in modernising the process involves the switch
to plastic licences so that every competitor will receive
a credit-card sized document, containing most of the information
currently accommodated on the paper licence. However, what
might initially seem a straight-forward and obvious policy
decision, is not without its challenges.
"There are a number of factors that mean that this is
not as simple as it sounds," explains Hilton. "Driving
endorsements and upgrading signatures are currently marked
on licences by hand and this is even stipulated in the Blue
Book, so not only do we have to create an electronic system
of logging and monitoring amendments, but we also have to
rewrite the regulations accordingly.
"Coupled with this is the significant cost implication.
If we were to propose an increase in licence fees to pay for
the new card licence, I am certain that many people would
say 'I'll stick with the paper version thanks,' so we have
to also accommodate the costs of the new system. However,
it is definitely the right way to go and is another significant
step forward in the modernisation of the MSA."
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