The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA), which provides vehicle licensing, testing and enforcement services, has been urged to abandon plans to raise test fees for commercial vehicles.

The government agency is proposing a 9% increase in the annual LCV test fee.

This would bring in an extra £4.3 million this year, with indications of further rises to come.

VOSA also wants to raise an extra £5.3 million a year by merging the annual O licence vehicle fee with the annual test fee, bringing thousands more vehicles into scope.

"This merged fee would put a completely unjustified burden on the rental and leasing industry and many other vehicle owners who would essentially be paying for enforcement costs despite not being subject to O licence requirements," said the BVRLA.

"The agency claims that the 9% rise in the fee represents the increased cost of service provision, but it also admits that it has not been able to recover all of its costs in the past or make any efficiency savings.

"Not only does the VOSA proposal fail to explain what the fee increases will be used for, it also threatens operators with longer waiting times if they are not ratified."

The BVRLA will be asking the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and the Department for Transport to review the agency's plans.

The association highlights the particular burden being placed on the rental and leasing industry.

The merger of test fees will see the sector's annual bill rise by £3.2 million in 2009 and £7 million in 2010.

"It is wholly unfair to load the day-to-day cost of the O licence on to our members, especially as they do not require an O licence to carry out their normal business of renting commercial vehicles," said the association's chief executive, John Lewis.

"VOSA expects them to act as third-party tax collectors, and to recover these costs from their customers in the form of increased hire or lease charges.

"But this will be next to impossible in a fiercely competitive business environment."