Driving to MOT test centre with no MOT not direct route

Driving to MOT test centre with no MOT not direct route

Author
Discussion

carlove

Original Poster:

7,539 posts

166 months

Friday 27th March 2015
quotequote all
Hi.

Son's car is booked in for MOT on Monday, has currently expired, now I know he can drive it to the MOT centre on most direct route. Issue is it has very low fuel so would need to go to petrol station first as I believe they can reject the test if low fuel.

Not even a 2 minute detour to closest petrol station so if he was unlucky enough to get stopped by police during this journey would he be prosecuted?

Been a while since I've had a car that needs to have an MOT so not sure myself.

Car is insured and taxed.

Humper

946 posts

161 months

Friday 27th March 2015
quotequote all
Recently had this with one of my bikes, the most direct route would involve running out of petrol, so the most direct route for me to actually GET to the MOT station was via Morrisons, imho.

rewc

2,187 posts

232 months

Friday 27th March 2015
quotequote all
carlove said:
Hi.

now I know he can drive it to the MOT centre on most direct route.
The law does not stipulate the distance the MOT test centre should be for a prearranged test. There is no such limiting factor and no stipulation as to 'direct route'.

carlove

Original Poster:

7,539 posts

166 months

Friday 27th March 2015
quotequote all
rewc said:
The law does not stipulate the distance the MOT test centre should be for a prearranged test. There is no such limiting factor and no stipulation as to 'direct route'.
Thanks. I had a look online and got the impression it was straight to the test on a direct route without stopping for jollies like a trip to Tesco, which is where the petrol station will be.


trashbat

6,005 posts

152 months

Friday 27th March 2015
quotequote all
Well technically you don't have to go on the most direct route, or indeed to the nearest MOT centre, but you do have to be going there.

The exemption in law is this:

"for the purpose of submitting it by previous arrangement for, or bringing it away from, an examination"

If you take it to the petrol station and leave it unattended there whilst you pay, an overly fastidious police officer might claim that you're not actually taking it to the MOT centre at that very moment. You could argue that it's a necessary part of your trip, and who knows what would happen.

Certainly you couldn't call in at the post office or whatever else.

Hey, you asked.

ViperDave

5,520 posts

252 months

Friday 27th March 2015
quotequote all
carlove said:
Thanks. I had a look online and got the impression it was straight to the test on a direct route without stopping for jollies like a trip to Tesco, which is where the petrol station will be.
Well if your driving to Tescos then your not driving to a pre arranged mot test center, your driving to Tescos.

If Tescos is on route to the mot center then in reality your only risk is being spotted by a particularly nasty copper entering Tescos, filling up and leaving. everything else is you driving to the mot center wink

Your legal alternative is a Jerry can and vehicle with valid mot and insurance to visit Tesco in order to collect fuel for your other car.

Edited by ViperDave on Friday 27th March 23:39

mph1977

12,467 posts

167 months

Friday 27th March 2015
quotequote all
rewc said:
carlove said:
Hi.

now I know he can drive it to the MOT centre on most direct route.
The law does not stipulate the distance the MOT test centre should be for a prearranged test. There is no such limiting factor and no stipulation as to 'direct route'.
in fact you may notice on other motoring forums ( i.e. the beige one) the pre-booked MOT being used as a means to allow none MoT vehicles to be subject to a several hundred mile 'epic collecshun road trip '...

Aretnap

1,643 posts

150 months

Friday 27th March 2015
quotequote all
There's no stipulation that you have to take the most direct route, just that the purpose of the journey has to be to get to the tMOT test. Incidentally how would one define the most direct route? Shortest distance? Shortest journey time? In what traffic conditions? Are you allowed to take the bypass rather than driving through the middle of a village? And so on and so forth.

IIRC there was a High Court case a few years ago on this point. The magistrates had convicted a man who stopped on the way to buy cigarettes and a newspaper so he would have something to read and smoke while the test was being carried out. The High Court overturned the conviction and ruled that the exemption need not be read so narrowly as to exclude such things. M'Luds specifically mentioned the possibility that someone might need to fill up with petrol in order to get to the testing centre as a reason why it would be absurd to read the regulations as not allowing any stopping or a detours on the way.

Obviously there's an element of "don't take the mickey" and if you made a 50 mile detour to visit your in-laws on the way you might have difficulty arguing that the sole purpose of your journey was to get to the MOT test, but if you need to get petrol on the way you can.

Added - here's the case, not exactly as I remembered it but definitely supports the view that it's OK to get petrol on the way.

http://www.rjerrard.co.uk/law/cases/richards.htm

Edited by Aretnap on Friday 27th March 23:39


Edited by Aretnap on Friday 27th March 23:48

Jimmy No Hands

5,007 posts

155 months

Friday 27th March 2015
quotequote all
I may have collected an eBay purchase from Milton Keynes and driven to a pre-booked MOT test.


In West Yorkshire.

Digby

8,230 posts

245 months

Saturday 28th March 2015
quotequote all
When did the the world get so terrified?

mph1977

12,467 posts

167 months

Saturday 28th March 2015
quotequote all
Jimmy No Hands said:
I may have collected an eBay purchase from Milton Keynes and driven to a pre-booked MOT test.


In West Yorkshire.
i think contributors to the beige forum have done further ...

Huff

3,141 posts

190 months

Saturday 28th March 2015
quotequote all
Aretnap - thanks for that, interesting reading.

My take to date - well I have a toy car of a less-common kind, and the place I prefer for the MOT is ~15miles away. Not the closest I could arrange at all, but (1) they are familiar with cars also used for competition and have in the past freely point-out other small (non-safety) issues or made useful suggestions; by no means do they give a 'soft ride' test, they stand on the detail - which I value and respect, and would rather know about/willingly pay-for; and (2) it's far enough to get the thing properly-hot and shake-out anything prior, given the car may not have been used in a couple of weeks before the test is due.

BritishRacinGrin

24,602 posts

159 months

Saturday 28th March 2015
quotequote all
On my way to pre-arranged MOT appointments I tend to stop off at my Dad's garage to fix all the faults hehe

Red Devil

13,055 posts

207 months

Saturday 28th March 2015
quotequote all
Aretnap said:
Obviously there's an element of "don't take the mickey" and if you made a 50 mile detour to visit your in-laws on the way you might have difficulty arguing that the sole purpose of your journey was to get to the MOT test, but if you need to get petrol on the way you can.

Added - here's the case, not exactly as I remembered it but definitely supports the view that it's OK to get petrol on the way.

http://www.rjerrard.co.uk/law/cases/richards.htm
yes From the above link - It is a question of fact and degree in each case for the court to determine whether the exemption is satisfied.

I may have undertaken an 'epic collecshun trip' from the Wirral to Kent without a court needing to make a determination...

mattyc69

330 posts

151 months

Saturday 28th March 2015
quotequote all
Jerrycan????

jmorgan

36,010 posts

283 months

Saturday 28th March 2015
quotequote all
mattyc69 said:
Jerrycan????
About to add that.

kowalski655

14,599 posts

142 months

Saturday 28th March 2015
quotequote all
Big metal thing,used to carry fuel
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerrycan
A small plastic one would probably do smile

Corpulent Tosser

5,459 posts

244 months

Saturday 28th March 2015
quotequote all

TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

125 months

Saturday 28th March 2015
quotequote all
carlove said:
I believe they can reject the test if low fuel.
They can't. Obviously, it helps if the car doesn't run out of fuel on their ramp or during the emissions test, but apart from that...

handpaper

1,290 posts

202 months

Saturday 28th March 2015
quotequote all
BritishRacinGrin said:
On my way to pre-arranged MOT appointments I tend to stop off at my Dad's garage to fix all the faults hehe
Legal without the MoT appointment - you are taking the vehicle to a place where it will be repaired (and away afterward). Just make sure you book it in with your Dad!