Trailer board instead of tail lights. Legal?

[Clivey]

Hi all, I've just seen something interesting; a car driving along with bulbs out (the whole rear light cluster looked to be faulty) but instead of doing the usual and driving around without lights, they'd got a trailer lighting board stuck to the back of the car, meaning that everyone else could still see them & their intentions. It left me wondering about the legality of them driving like that. - Is it legal? Would it fail an MOT in that condition?

[TooMany2cvs]

Legality - C&U and RVLR specify positions of lights. If they're met, it's legal.
MOT - "Security" would be the most likely objection. MOT isn't overly worried about exact position, so long as they're about right, and level. https://www.mot-testing.service.gov.uk/documents/m...

[48k]

I can't think of any possible reason why that would fail an MoT. Infact they were probably on their way back from the test, with a big happy smile and a freshly printed MoT certificate in their pocket.

[chrisga]

Was it a trailer lighting board with red warning triangles? Or was it a bike rack lightboard with no triangles?

[Clivey]

Yes; I was wondering if the fact that the board isn't part of the car itself would be the deciding factor.

chrisga said:

Was it a trailer lighting board with red warning triangles? Or was it a bike rack lightboard with no triangles?

I can't remember to be honest but I think I know what you're getting at. I assume that if the original red reflectors can be seen, it'd be OK from that point of view?

[chrisga]

More that if it was a "trailer board" as opposed to a "lighting board" it would indicate you were following a trailer rather than just the rear of the vehicle so may not be correct. Not sure about legality of the board, can't see why it would be a problem as the non trailer light boards are designed for if your rear lights are obscured by having a bike rack on the tow bar perhaps, so can't really see any difference as long as it was securely fastened.

I think legally all trailers must have the reflective triangles though. Not sure whether showing triangles when it wasn't a trailer would leave you in trouble or not. Also bike rack lightboards are often narrower than trailer boards. Not sure if that makes a difference too.

[Stenasev]

I asked this question to my local MOT tester when I wanted to test a 1982 Pontiac on original American spec lights. Red rear shared brake and indicator. He checked with someone and said if I fitted a trailer board just for the MOT then it would NOT be acceptable and would fail. I simply took it to the last MOT station that passed it (about 60miles away) and it passed with original lights. Long time ago of course.

I thinks it says 'piss take' too much for anyone to MOT a car with a trailer board.