You go to all the fuel-wasting effort to get the engine nice and warm for a realistic smoke test reading and they then sit on the car for an hour before bothering to test. No surprise that the first smoke reading is close to 7.
The regulations state: "The engine oil temperature measured by a probe in the oil level dipstick tube is to be at least 80°C, or normal operating temperature if lower (60°C minimum). Testing an engine below normal operating temperature may affect the test result"
And all I get is a 'oil temperature not measured' on the report. Bah.
(average of next three tests was below threshold, so no problem, though it seems the italian tune ups in the preceding days didn't really have any effect on the figure from the previous year).