Failed MOT in April - legal or not now??

[4rephill]

Yertis said:

Sheepshanks said:

I don't think that happens much - you hear of people driving for many months having forgotten about their MOT and they don't get pulled.

I wouldn’t bank on that. A few years ago I moved the date of MoT for my Monaro forward by a fortnight, to get it done before hols. The following year I forgot that, and Mr Plod followed me from Blandford Forum to Poole just to tell me my MoT was one day overdue. I promised to get it done as soon as I got home. “I have the power to impound this vehicle, but instead I’m going to let you have (whatever code it was) £60 fine.”



I mentioned this to a copper friend of mine who conceded that incidents such as this did little to help their public image.

Huh?

The Officer told you he could have seized your car for being used on the public highway with no MOT, but gave you a £60 FPN instead, and both yourself and a "copper friend" think he did the wrong thing?

He could have left you walking home and facing a big fine plus storage fee's, but instead let you off with a poxy £60 fine - I'd say that was a pretty good result, and nothing to complain about.

Have to say, I'm not convinced the public image of the Police is actually harmed by them doing their job and enforcing the Law - Although some members of the public might be pssed off that an officer has allowed a car with no MOT to still be driven on the public highway.

[gareth_r]

Yertis said:

I wouldn’t bank on that. A few years ago I moved the date of MoT for my Monaro forward by a fortnight, to get it done before hols. The following year I forgot that, and Mr Plod followed me from Blandford Forum to Poole just to tell me my MoT was one day overdue. I promised to get it done as soon as I got home. “I have the power to impound this vehicle, but instead I’m going to let you have (whatever code it was) £60 fine.”



I mentioned this to a copper friend of mine who conceded that incidents such as this did little to help their public image.

If the car had an MOT, and you had it tested two weeks early, the expiry date of the new certificate would be the same as if you'd had it tested at the expiry date of the current MOT, i.e. it would have had an MOT for 12 months and 2 weeks.

[anonymous-user]

4rephill said:

Yertis said:

Sheepshanks said:

I don't think that happens much - you hear of people driving for many months having forgotten about their MOT and they don't get pulled.

I wouldn’t bank on that. A few years ago I moved the date of MoT for my Monaro forward by a fortnight, to get it done before hols. The following year I forgot that, and Mr Plod followed me from Blandford Forum to Poole just to tell me my MoT was one day overdue. I promised to get it done as soon as I got home. “I have the power to impound this vehicle, but instead I’m going to let you have (whatever code it was) £60 fine.”



I mentioned this to a copper friend of mine who conceded that incidents such as this did little to help their public image.

Huh?

The Officer told you he could have seized your car for being used on the public highway with no MOT, but gave you a £60 FPN instead, and both yourself and a "copper friend" think he did the wrong thing?

He could have left you walking home and facing a big fine plus storage fee's, but instead let you off with a poxy £60 fine - I'd say that was a pretty good result, and nothing to complain about.

Have to say, I'm not convinced the public image of the Police is actually harmed by them doing their job and enforcing the Law - Although some members of the public might be pssed off that an officer has allowed a car with no MOT to still be driven on the public highway.

'one day overdue' if the Police Officer can't differentiate that to someone who is blatantly flouting the law the Police Officer needs to go on a Common Sense Course.

[Vanin]

What about an MOT failure due to a speedometer not working, but having a Tomtom instead for speed indication.? Roadworthy or not?

[silverfoxcc]

I could be wrong but isnt the original 25yr exemption for road tax now a 40yr 'rolling rule' for Road Fund exemption

However the MOT exemption is only AT THE MOMENT (IIRC) is for pre 1960 vehicles

So his Landy is illegal to drive on the road except to go for a prebooked MOT

HTH

[RTB]

silverfoxcc said:

I could be wrong but isnt the original 25yr exemption for road tax now a 40yr 'rolling rule' for Road Fund exemption

However the MOT exemption is only AT THE MOMENT (IIRC) is for pre 1960 vehicles

So his Landy is illegal to drive on the road except to go for a prebooked MOT

HTH

From the .gov website:

Vehicles that do not need an MOT
You do not need to get an MOT if:

the vehicle was built or first registered more than 40 years ago
no ‘substantial changes’ have been made to the vehicle in the last 30 years, for example replacing the chassis, body, axles or engine to change the way the vehicle works

This rule came in in May this year.

[Yertis]

gareth_r said:

If the car had an MOT, and you had it tested two weeks early, the expiry date of the new certificate would be the same as if you'd had it tested at the expiry date of the current MOT, i.e. it would have had an MOT for 12 months and 2 weeks.

I forget the actual details but either way I'd moved it forward from the previous anniversary, hence my oversight in getting the MoT.

[FlipFlopGriff]

Vanin said:

What about an MOT failure due to a speedometer not working, but having a Tomtom instead for speed indication.? Roadworthy or not?

In all the years I've been having cars tested they've never checked the speedo, in fact the odometer on one of the TVRs stuck at 39,999 and its been like that for best part of 10 years.
FFG.

[Riley Blue]

FlipFlopGriff said:

Vanin said:

What about an MOT failure due to a speedometer not working, but having a Tomtom instead for speed indication.? Roadworthy or not?

In all the years I've been having cars tested they've never checked the speedo, in fact the odometer on one of the TVRs stuck at 39,999 and its been like that for best part of 10 years.
FFG.

The speedo needle in my Riley wavers wildly, perhaps +/- 10mph at any given speed about about 30. Most likely a new cable would fix it but as it's never been commented on at MOT time it can wait. Also, the fuel gauge doesn't work and as the wheels & tyres are non-standard the odometer is somewhat inaccurate so I use an app to remind me to fill up every 200 miles or so.

[FlipFlopGriff]

Riley Blue said:

The speedo needle in my Riley wavers wildly, perhaps +/- 10mph at any given speed about about 30. Most likely a new cable would fix it but as it's never been commented on at MOT time it can wait. Also, the fuel gauge doesn't work and as the wheels & tyres are non-standard the odometer is somewhat inaccurate so I use an app to remind me to fill up every 200 miles or so.

Tell me about the speedo needle - got a '59 Moggy convertible and that's similar.
FFG

[mk1coopers]

The MOT manual is all online, so why does anyone need to speculate what is or isn't a fail ?


https://www.mot-testing.service.gov.uk/documents/m...


The MOT is only valid at the time of the test, you could get a pass, then drive the car straight out of the garage and remove the wiper blades, you now have a car that would fail the test its just passed minutes ago.

The driver of a vehicle is (at all times) responsible for it being in a road worthy condition when being using on a public highway, drive a car with a known (or obvious) fault and you run the risk of being pulled up for it, in this case if the worst was to happen and you had an accident without proof of the brakes having been repaired you would no doubt loose your insurance cover and be prosecuted (no matter if the vehicle is exempt or not) as you are knowingly using a vehicle with a major fault (assuming it was tested correctly)

The answer to the speedo question is in section 7.8 in the above manual, a non working speedo is a fail, however unless it's obvious (missing / smashed / doesn't illuminate) the only way it's likely to be spotted is if the car needs a road test for the brake decelerometer

Edited by mk1coopers on Thursday 15th November 08:02