Returning UK car from abroad, mot run out now can't tax...
Discussion
Oceanrower said:
Ok. Are we agreed that a UK car doesn’t need an MOT to drive to an MOT?
If so, does a UK car require a French MOT (whatever the equivalent is)? If not then what French law has been broken?
I think the 'doesn't need an MOT to drive to an MOT test' part may technically not work in France.If so, does a UK car require a French MOT (whatever the equivalent is)? If not then what French law has been broken?
Oceanrower said:
Ok. Are we agreed that a UK car doesn’t need an MOT to drive to an MOT?
If so, does a UK car require a French MOT (whatever the equivalent is)? If not then what French law has been broken?
The bit that says it is illegal to drive a car on a road in France if it’s safety inspection ( MOT,CT, APK,TUV whatever ) is not in date. As another example, you as a 17 year old with a full licence can drive in the UK, but you can’t drive that car in France till you’re 18. French rules are on occasion a bit different If so, does a UK car require a French MOT (whatever the equivalent is)? If not then what French law has been broken?
Rushjob said:
The bit that says it is illegal to drive a car on a road in France if it’s safety inspection ( MOT,CT, APK,TUV whatever ) is not in date. As another example, you as a 17 year old with a full licence can drive in the UK, but you can’t drive that car in France till you’re 18. French rules are on occasion a bit different
What bit's that?I'm genuinely curious, French law AFAIK is that a French car needs a control technique if applicable, a foreign-registered car needs to be legal in its home country. Obviously it needs to have valid insurance and the driver needs a valid licence.
I'd be interested to see that law.
Edited by monthou on Friday 23 June 22:03
Grumps. said:
Oceanrower said:
Grumps. said:
Oceanrower said:
Grumps. said:
It would be an interesting conversation with plod if he got pulled over half through his journey though wouldn’t it?
Not really. I’d imagine it would go something like this…
Officer. Good afternoon Sir, I can see that your car doesn’t appear to be taxed and MOT’d. Would you care to explain why you’re driving it?
OP. Yes officer. I’m on my way to a pre booked MOT. Here is the number of the garage if you’d care to check.
Officer (After checking). Thank you Sir. Is there any reason why you didn’t book it in with a more local garage from where you collected it?
OP. Yes officer. Some freeman of the land on the internet said it would be fine.
Officer. Well I’m afraid I’m going to issue you with (pick a penalty) and confiscate the vehicle for (insert one of many possible reasons).
If the op gets stopped on his way back at 5pm and still has 100 odd miles from the mot test centre, how do you explain that?
Test centres would be closed by the time he got there so in the eyes of the law, he wouldn’t be driving to a test centre.
Am I am not saying he can’t. Only that there would be some risk and with a million anpr cameras on the roads, it would be tricky ti get away with it.
Anyhoo, its not my pocket but it ain’t worth the risk imo.
t.mcpoot said:
Grumps. said:
Oceanrower said:
Grumps. said:
Oceanrower said:
Grumps. said:
It would be an interesting conversation with plod if he got pulled over half through his journey though wouldn’t it?
Not really. I’d imagine it would go something like this…
Officer. Good afternoon Sir, I can see that your car doesn’t appear to be taxed and MOT’d. Would you care to explain why you’re driving it?
OP. Yes officer. I’m on my way to a pre booked MOT. Here is the number of the garage if you’d care to check.
Officer (After checking). Thank you Sir. Is there any reason why you didn’t book it in with a more local garage from where you collected it?
OP. Yes officer. Some freeman of the land on the internet said it would be fine.
Officer. Well I’m afraid I’m going to issue you with (pick a penalty) and confiscate the vehicle for (insert one of many possible reasons).
If the op gets stopped on his way back at 5pm and still has 100 odd miles from the mot test centre, how do you explain that?
Test centres would be closed by the time he got there so in the eyes of the law, he wouldn’t be driving to a test centre.
Am I am not saying he can’t. Only that there would be some risk and with a million anpr cameras on the roads, it would be tricky ti get away with it.
Anyhoo, its not my pocket but it ain’t worth the risk imo.
t.Why on earth do we have to do this every month? The same question has been asked sixteen-eighteen-canteen times before and the correct legal answers have been given since before the year dot on here.
It is perfectly legal to drive a vehicle without a current MOT or tax if it is being driven directly to a pre-booked MOT anywhere. Period. It must be insured (of course) and the insurance company cannot exclude this from cover as it's a legal requirement. Bro-in-Law lived in France for 20+ years and can vouch that the French system has no interest in British MOTs, only V5s and insurance.
Police have no grounds to question distance to the test station as it is not a provision in the regulations.
It is perfectly legal to drive a vehicle without a current MOT or tax if it is being driven directly to a pre-booked MOT anywhere. Period. It must be insured (of course) and the insurance company cannot exclude this from cover as it's a legal requirement. Bro-in-Law lived in France for 20+ years and can vouch that the French system has no interest in British MOTs, only V5s and insurance.
Police have no grounds to question distance to the test station as it is not a provision in the regulations.
Thanks the helpful replies everyone. Noted and understood.
Reality of my situation is that I’ll land in UK shores with the vehicle at around 9pm one weekday evening where i'll drive straight home, 2hrs away in London. I’ve now got an MOT booked, and written proof of it, for 9am the following day at the nearest MOT station to home.
Hopefully any police officers will be reasonable enough to understand the situation. More of a concern though are the multiple ANPR cameras that I'll pass as I drive from Folkestone up the M2, around the M25 and into central London.
Does anybody know whether ANPR cameras automatically send out non-tax (or MOT) fines for registrations that they pick up? And if so any ideas, aside from ‘remove your number plates’ or 'trailer it', of how to avoid a nasty letter with a fine, or to best respond to it considering my situation?
Thanks again for your advices concerning correction of my poor vehicle admin!
Reality of my situation is that I’ll land in UK shores with the vehicle at around 9pm one weekday evening where i'll drive straight home, 2hrs away in London. I’ve now got an MOT booked, and written proof of it, for 9am the following day at the nearest MOT station to home.
Hopefully any police officers will be reasonable enough to understand the situation. More of a concern though are the multiple ANPR cameras that I'll pass as I drive from Folkestone up the M2, around the M25 and into central London.
Does anybody know whether ANPR cameras automatically send out non-tax (or MOT) fines for registrations that they pick up? And if so any ideas, aside from ‘remove your number plates’ or 'trailer it', of how to avoid a nasty letter with a fine, or to best respond to it considering my situation?
Thanks again for your advices concerning correction of my poor vehicle admin!
Edited by jbk on Saturday 24th June 14:21
monthou said:
What's the issue if you're recorded on an ANPR camera with no road tax on your way to a pre-booked MOT?
I am wondering whether those cameras automatically issue no road tax fines (?) as if so it's possible that I'll get stuck in a 'prove you were going directly to MOT' (which I won't be because they're not open at night) potentially lengthy relay with DVLA.jbk said:
monthou said:
What's the issue if you're recorded on an ANPR camera with no road tax on your way to a pre-booked MOT?
I am wondering whether those cameras automatically issue no road tax fines (?) as if so it's possible that I'll get stuck in a 'prove you were going directly to MOT' (which I won't be because they're not open at night) potentially lengthy relay with DVLA.Trailer the car, that way you won't lose any sleep over it.
jbk said:
and without road tax?
My neighbour's MoT had run out (this was in 2019 mind, and they'd genuinely overlooked it) and because they paid road tax by monthly direct debit, the payment wasn't taken. Note: If you buy VED for the full 12 months (or 6), it remains valid even if the MoT expires.However, it was over 6 weeks before they got the letter from DVLA about no tax and a fine, never got pulled or anything from any ANPR!
Sister in law did the same thing bringing her car over from Amsterdam via harwich.
She got the overnight ferry and was booked into my usual mot centre the following morning.
They emailed her a confirmation.
There are ANPR cameras on the road but she didn’t have any issues.
There was a slight snag when the car failed the mot and had to visit two other garages to get a steering angle sensor sorted.
But again, no interest from the authorities….
It wouldn't surprise me if there are far more untaxed/mot’d cars on the road than people realise, and even if you happen to chance upon an anpr equipped plod you’d probably have to be doing something silly to get a tug.
I once forgot to mot one of my cars for 3 months and was driving around oblivious the whole time.
Re the tests in other countries, due to covid they had to take the car for a Dutch ‘MOT’ 2 yrs running, which was just a stamp on a bit of paper as they couldn’t produce a proper certificate as the car was Uk registered.
That scheme ended with covid restrictions hence them having to come back before the Dutch test expired.
She got the overnight ferry and was booked into my usual mot centre the following morning.
They emailed her a confirmation.
There are ANPR cameras on the road but she didn’t have any issues.
There was a slight snag when the car failed the mot and had to visit two other garages to get a steering angle sensor sorted.
But again, no interest from the authorities….
It wouldn't surprise me if there are far more untaxed/mot’d cars on the road than people realise, and even if you happen to chance upon an anpr equipped plod you’d probably have to be doing something silly to get a tug.
I once forgot to mot one of my cars for 3 months and was driving around oblivious the whole time.
Re the tests in other countries, due to covid they had to take the car for a Dutch ‘MOT’ 2 yrs running, which was just a stamp on a bit of paper as they couldn’t produce a proper certificate as the car was Uk registered.
That scheme ended with covid restrictions hence them having to come back before the Dutch test expired.
Edited by DJFish on Saturday 24th June 17:53
sixor8 said:
My neighbour's MoT had run out (this was in 2019 mind, and they'd genuinely overlooked it) and because they paid road tax by monthly direct debit, the payment wasn't taken. Note: If you buy VED for the full 12 months (or 6), it remains valid even if the MoT expires.
However, it was over 6 weeks before they got the letter from DVLA about no tax and a fine, never got pulled or anything from any ANPR!
You don't need to get 'pulled' for no tax. However, it was over 6 weeks before they got the letter from DVLA about no tax and a fine, never got pulled or anything from any ANPR!
If it's not taxed or SORN'd they can just fine the keeper. No need for the car to be seen on the road. OR even for it to be physically in the country.
MustangGT said:
AFAIK an ANPR camera simply raises the ping with the police. It would require a policeman to actually follow it up.
Errr, maybe. Then again maybe not. If there's anyone logged in on patrol it may tag them depending on what alerts they have set up, to be fair I had no insurance as my lowest setting as no tax no mot etc was not worth ignoring a no insurance / intel / stolen report for ......PS, not all cops are blokes.....
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