Opposition mounts against plans to change MoT frequency

UK legislators must not scrap the annual MOT test to fall in line with Europe warns campaign group RoadSafe who reveal the DfT is considering scrapping the UK’s annual test, which commences when a car is 3 years old.

Transport Department whip Earl Atlee told the House of Lords in July “We intend to look at the issue of MoT frequencies later this year.”

This would mean the UK adopting the European way of testing cars where the first test is not required until a car reaches 4 years of age and then only testing every two years after that.

RoadSafe says that doing this would lead to more crashes caused by poorly maintained vehicles.

RoadSafe’s Adrian Walsh is said ‘RoadSafe joins the Tyre Industry Federation, and other campaigners, with a warning to government, that extending the period between MOT tests will put lives at risk.

‘Testers in the UK identify 8.5 million cars with defects every year.

‘In its own review of the MOT in 2008, the DfT said reducing the test’s frequency would significantly increase the number of unroadworthy cars and casualties.

‘An annual MOT is vital for picking up these problems.’

Automotive Aftermarket Federation the IAAF has also written a strongly worded letter to Transport Minister Michael Penning expressing surprise at the government’s decision to review the MoT test.

In his letter, Brian explained that currently, around 35 per cent of vehicles, when presented for their first MoT test, fail. And, of course, by the time of the first test, some fleet cars can have covered more than 100,000 miles, so it would be unsurprising to find fail points on those.

Of as much concern is the tendency for the average private motorist to treat the MoT as the spur to carry out the most basic of maintenance. Any slackening of the requirement based on time, potentially moving from 12 month test to 24 months, is a recipe for an increasing number of unroadworthy and downright dangerous cars being used on the UK’s roads.

Brian added: “By all means stiffen the test requirements to make vehicles safer and more efficient, but don’t let’s go to the lowest European common denominator. Let’s keep 3-1-1. ”