Motorists frustrated by delays at the Barbados Licensing Authority (BLA) could soon see smoother operations as the agency rolls out a series of fixes, including using private garages to help clear the backlog caused by last week’s system crash.
The Authority has begun phased resumption of vehicle inspections and issuance of roadworthy certificates at its Pine, St Michael headquarters after its online platform went offline on October 20, stalling all vehiclerelated services for several days.
Chief Licensing Officer Treca McCarthy-Broomes said it was “moving decisively” to restore operations and reduce the mounting backlog.
Backlog
“We know the public has been inconvenienced and we want to assure motorists that we are doing everything possible to get services back to normal.
“We are taking today [yesterday] and tomorrow [today] to address the backlog. We are also seeking to bring on staff to assist with the backlog,” she told the Weekend Nation.
“In short order, we will be utilising the services of approved private garages to assist with vehicle inspections. This will help us speed up the registration process since inspection is one of the key services required before a vehicle can be registered.”
Approved garages
She added that the list of garages would be published soon and the collaboration was a temporary but essential step.
“We’re expecting an influx of customers once the system is fully restored,” she said. “This partnership allows us to increase our capacity quickly while maintaining safety and compliance standards.”
While the BLA’s team works to return services to full functionality, information technology (IT) consultant Andre Lashley, who is leading the technical response, revealed that the crash stemmed from a major failure in the ageing IT infrastructure.
IT infrastructure
“The old legacy system that was managing the registration of vehicles suffered severe failure when the server went offline,” he said. “After diagnosing the problem, it became clear that the only sustainable solution was to replace the entire IT infrastructure with a new platform.”
Lashley said the system was more than 18 years old and was being upgraded in phases.
“We had already completed the first phase earlier this year, which was the upgrade of the driver’s licence system which went live in July 2025,” he said.
“That new system allows customers to book driving tests, renew or pay for their licences online or in person.
“The second phase, which deals with vehicle registration,
was well underway when a power outage caused major damage to the existing platform.”
The sudden failure brought all vehicle-related services to a halt. Within hours, an emergency response was mounted involving the BLA, Lashley’s IT team and the Ministry of Innovation, Science & Smart Technology.
“This isn’t just a database . . . it’s a national platform that handles everything from registering imported vehicles to ownership transfers and inspections. Because of that complexity, restoration isn’t a simple reboot, so we have to rebuild,” Lashley said.
“We decided to tackle the issue in a more agile way, giving priority to critical processes like the weighbridge and vehicle inspections.
“We’ve also deployed an interim manual solution for a couple of days, alongside an online fix, to restore essential services.”
Lashley confirmed that testing of the new systems was underway and expressed optimism that a working solution would be in place by next week.
“We are addressing all the issues for all classes of vehicles – private, commercial and public service vehicles (PSVs),” he said. To ease concerns, McCarthy-Broomes said PSV operators whose permits expired during the downtime would not be penalised and similar leniency would apply to private and commercial owners.
The BLA official also urged motorists preparing to register vehicles to ensure they have all the necessary documentation ready to prevent further delays once operations were fully restored.
“We’re encouraging agents and individuals alike to double-check their paperwork,” she said. “That means insurance documents, IDs, authorisation letters, Customs entries, inspection certificates and application forms. The more prepared you are, the faster we can process your transaction once you come in.”
Rebuilding trust
“We’ve learned a lot from this. Our focus now is on restoring stability and rebuilding trust. We want the public to know that we’re committed to doing this right and properly,” McCarthy-Broomes said.
“The Licensing Authority is really sorry for the inconvenience caused by the outage and assures all our valued customers that there is no doubt that we can see the light at the [end of the] tunnel and we shall be in full operations after the testing phase has been successfully completed.” (NS)
