A RENEWED call has been made by the Retail Motor Industry Federation for annual MoTs for all vehicles. It came at the organisation's annual dinner where RMI president Sue Brownson repeated her call of a year ago for the Government to get tough on clocking and warned the listening Roads Minister Baroness Hayman that Britain's transport crisis would not be resolved until there was a viable alternative to cars.

With transport close to the top of the Government's political agenda and vehicle pollution and congestion the two key issues to be resolved Brownson said she had proposed the introduction of annual MoTs to Hayman at a private meeting and was assured the issue was being studied.

Hayman told the dinner: 'There are a lot of difficulties with it and we would have to look very carefully at the costs and be very carefully persuaded of the benefits. We have to listen to all viewpoints and weigh it up on the overall scale of the priorities.'

The RMI first called for annual MoTs more than five years ago. Currently the MoT is carried out when a vehicle reaches three years old. At the time the RMI said it wanted the annual test because of extended fleet replacement cycles, lengthening service intervals and high speeds.

Such a move would cost the fleet industry at least an extra £20 million a year in holding costs. Brownson also urged the Government to introduce the mandatory recording of mileage - a repeat of her 1996 annual dinner call.