Driving a car to a pre booked MOT?

[stephend]

I'm looking at at herald (god damn it I have my mind set on one now) but it requires an MOT. I know I can drive to a pre booked MOT as long as the car is insured, which it will be, from what I can find out there is no set distance the MOT station has to be, so I could buy a car in liverpool and drive it to my booked MOT in Dudley and all is okay. This is legal but somewhat seems to take the piss a little.

 

My two options are:

 

1, Drive the car back to my local MOT staion and have all documents with me just in case I get pulled by the police.

2, Have MOT booked for a local station, which it will fail, then drive back home.

 

I have never been pulled by the police ever, however I know that this will be the one time I get pulled

[scaryoldcortina]

If you know it would fail an MoT you shouldn't be driving it. It's as simple as that. I wouldn't (personally) drive an unknown and untested car any distance - That's what recovery is for.

 

Taking a car with no test for MoT is as you say, however. Prebooked and insured, no problem regardless of distance. Failed MoT is ok to drive only to place of repair, onus is on the driver for lack of roadworthiness.

[Pete-M]

I'd just book it in with your local MOT station and make sure it's insured. I MOT all my stuff 10 miles from my house, 15 from the unit.

 

Dudley isn't the end of the world, it's a couple of hours down the M6. There can be VOSA Focuses parked up near Sandbach, and the prettier run is cross country anyway. If you did the cross country route and drove sensibly you'd be a lot better off in a pull situation than if they find it dying in the middle of a busy motorway.

 

My route would be through the Mersey Tunnel, down the A41 and past Tarvin. It's a pretty route and tends to be quiet.

[ashmicro]

We used to hate this when I was "job". Believe it or not, even us plod were never entirely sure, lots of grey areas due to poorly drafted legislation. However, as SOC says, it is the responsibility of the driver to ensure the vehicle's roadworthy.

[Lord Sterling]

I'd take Pete-M's advice if I were you, I know by Junction 3 of the M5 is usually a place for the VOSA.

[michael1703]

that clause has been changed now, you can legally drive it up to 20 miles for an MOT

 

if you break down and the car isnt taxed, the rac/aa wont take you either, you have to pay full rate for the recovery

[Guest]

What's this about the clause changing? There has never been a mile limit (contrary to popular belief) and Direct Gov still says the same as usual. It would be almost completely unenforceable (How they decide where you set off from? What if you live in the sticks and there isn't a test station that close?). As long as the test is pre-booked, it doesn't matter where it is. Construction and use regs and all that still apply, so you can't really use it as an excuse to drive an unroadworthy car.

 

There really isn't as many grey areas to this as people like to think, there's a lot of well-known myths about "reasonable distance" and "don't use the motorway" and "they must be a specialist for your specific car if they're over X miles away" and even "you can't pass an MOT testing station on the way to yours" to the point where even the police don't seem sure. Rumour has completely clouded what really isn't a very long/complicated set of rules.

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

Instead of man in pub knowledge, it's several hundred men on internet forums knowledge.

[M'coli]

20 miles isn't going to be enough in the Heilans...

If there's a rule about not being able to pass an MOT station on the way to your chosen one, then I'm buggered as the closest MOT place is run by a shower of arrogant shits who I don't want to do business with.

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

20 miles isn't going to be enough in the Heilans...

 

My nearest MOT station is 4 miles away, I do live in a fairly well developed part of the Heilans though.

You don't require an MOT on some Scottish islands, including Mull - which surprised me, as it's quite developed too.

[warren t claim]

I'd take Pete-M's advice if I were you, I know by Junction 3 of the M5 is usually a place for the VOSA.

 

IIRC VOSA cunts can't stop cars, only commercials and PCVs. If it worries you that much just drive behind a Lithuanian or Bulgarian truck. The fucktards will stop him long before they would stop you.

[scruff]

Yep it'll only be the fuzz who take an interest, personally I'd find a pal with a trailer though.

[Mr Lobster]

Do you think it'll pass an MOT?

 

If so then book it in at a place local to wherever it is. If you don't think it'll pass then you probably shouldn't be driviing it anyway so throw it on a trailer / Shiply it.

[Lankytim]

VOSA have the power to pull whoever they like, but they tend to specialise is lorries. IIRC only the Police and VOSA have the power to pull motorists over so if one of the VOSA galaxies want to pull you then they can. I don't know if they use ANPR though.

 

The rumour about not being allowed to pass an MOT station possibly stems from the rules regarding weighbridges. If VOSA pull an overloaded truck/gippo transit over the only line of defense for the driver is that they were on the way to a weighbridge to check their weight. If it can be proven that there is a weighbridge closer to their start point then they can be fined.

[babydriver]

if you got a Herald what have you got? Pray spill the beans how much for it etc,

[Guest]

I'd take Pete-M's advice if I were you, I know by Junction 3 of the M5 is usually a place for the VOSA.

 

IIRC VOSA cunts can't stop cars, only commercials and PCVs. If it worries you that much just drive behind a Lithuanian or Bulgarian truck. The fucktards will stop him long before they would stop you.

 

Dunno. VOSA pulled me in the Amazon in its pre resto state coming off the A556 near the Lymm Roundabout because they 'didn't like' how it 'looked'. They sent the police over to calm me down when I called them unpleasant names.

[Lacy]

To be honest, the legislation ought to be changed to include the 'reasonable distance' clause. It doesn't need to be set in stone,; each incident could be prosecuted on its own merits and it ought to be up to you, the 'offender' to show that it was reasonable for you to drive that distance for an MOT. the further away the MOT station is the less likely you are to be able to show it to be reasonable.

 

Anyway, if you get tugged by any half decent traffic officer, lack of MOT will be the least of your worries. He can cause you a whole world of pain. He will check where the vehicle is registered, he will check your home address, he will know the vehicle isn't MOT'd.......the chances of you NOT having your vehicle PG9'd/seized are slim.

 

In addition You COULD also face a charge of Dangerous Driving/Dangerous condition if you are aware or ought to be aware of significant faults with the vehicle yet still chose to drive it regardless.

 

It could be me, or mine that gets twatted by some idiot in an unroadworthy car 'cos they thought they could interpret legislation to their advantage........

[hennabm]

The Motor Vehicle Test Regs of 1981 cover MOT testing and nowhere in there does it mention a 20 mile radius or any other distance.

 

And neither does the 6th Testing Guide that the MOT stations have.

[messerschmitt owner]

as far as I am aware, there is no class 3 station within my local area.

 

That means if I want an MoT on a three wheeler, it takes a little distance to get there.

 

I remove the rear numberplate, and add a trailer board when towing it on the A frame.

[scaryoldcortina]

To be honest, the legislation ought to be changed to include the 'reasonable distance' clause. It doesn't need to be set in stone,; each incident could be prosecuted on its own merits and it ought to be up to you, the 'offender' to show that it was reasonable for you to drive that distance for an MOT. the further away the MOT station is the less likely you are to be able to show it to be reasonable.

 

Anyway, if you get tugged by any half decent traffic officer, lack of MOT will be the least of your worries. He can cause you a whole world of pain. He will check where the vehicle is registered, he will check your home address, he will know the vehicle isn't MOT'd.......the chances of you NOT having your vehicle PG9'd/seized are slim.

 

In addition You COULD also face a charge of Dangerous Driving/Dangerous condition if you are aware or ought to be aware of significant faults with the vehicle yet still chose to drive it regardless.

 

It could be me, or mine that gets twatted by some idiot in an unroadworthy car 'cos they thought they could interpret legislation to their advantage........

 

Any bar-room lawyer can think up an excuse for having no MoT, NONE of them exempt you from section 40A of the Road Traffic Act (1988) which requires that you (the driver) ensure the vehicle is roadworthy at all times. That's the catch-all, and that is why the law doesn't need changing. Imposing a fixed radius on where you can test would be hard to enforce, and restrict free trade.

[Lankytim]

When you think about it an MOT isn't a big deal anyway as it only proves the vehicle satisfied a minimum standard on a certain day. 11 months later it will still be MOT'd but could have a big rot hole above one of the front struts, no brakes and 4 bald tyres...

[Guest]

Creating "hazy" laws is a complete waste of time, you'd just wait to go to court and they'd be dismissed. A judge is meant to make decisions based on the law, if the law itself is flawed, there's no point. Guesswork would set some very dangerous precedents.

 

Driving a roadworthy and fully-insured car directly to an MOT isn't harming anyone. If you're driving an unroadworthy car regardless of the paperwork situation, you deserve to be pulled, simple as that. A bit of green paper isn't going to make your brakes work.

[Pete-M]

Truth is, if you buy a car 100 miles from home and you suspect it may need a few little jobs doing for the mot then it makes sense to get it tested near your home. Otherwise you'll have a 200 mile round trip for the retest, and possibly a 200 mile round trip to collect it from the MOT station on a trailer if it fails on something the tester considers 'dangerous'. As a scabby wheelarch can be enough to warrant a 'dangerous' from some MOT testers, I wouldn't be taking that chance.

 

Check the basics, tyres, brakes, lights, horn, wipers, sills, floor, inner wings, seatbelts etc.

 

If they're ok and there are no big gaping holes in the thing, then I see no problem with taking it to an MOT station near your home.

 

The law does not need changing, and this particular issue does not need tidying up.

 

If your car is booked in for an MOT and has insurance, it's legal to take it to the test station. You can still get nicked if it's blatantly unroadworthy, but if the basics are there, and you can prove it's booked in for an MOT, you're fine.