Another MOT question

Hades

Hades

Hades

Man of Honour
Joined
19 Oct 2002
Posts
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Location
Surrey
I realise that you're legally allowed to drive a car to and from a pre-booked MOT even if it does not have one. But what would happen in the following scenario:

1) Book MOT.
2) Drive there.
3) Fails on tyres.
4) I drive home because I don't like the choice of tyres on offer, or can get them cheaper.
5) Can I drive to a tyre place to get tyres fitted, even though I would not have an MOT?

I'm guessing the answwer here is 'no' unless I also booked a further MOT at the tyre place.
 
You'd be driving an unroadworthy car on the road so no. Expect them to throw the book at you even if you are on the way to the test centre if you have bald tyres. There's no excuse really.
 
Clarkey said:
You'd be driving an unroadworthy car on the road so no. Expect them to throw the book at you even if you are on the way to the test centre if you have bald tyres. There's no excuse really.
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Thanks for the answer but I absolutely don't intend to drive an unroadworthy car. I was merely asking what the legal position was. I understand I can drive to a pre-booked MOT but was not sure whether I could drive to a garage to get MOT related work done. I assumed the answer was not.

And my car is currently 100% legal, with legal tyres :)
 
I think if you are driving a car which will clearly fail on something simple like tires, which have enough signs built into them, then they would indeed try to make an example.
 
Once the MOT has expired, you can only drive it to and from a pre-booked test. You can't drive it to be mended.

If you have it tested within a month of the expiry, you will still have a valid MOT to drive on, even if it fails.

BUT It is illegal to drive a car on bald tyres under any circumstances!
 
BigglesPiP said:
Once the MOT has expired, you can only drive it to and from a pre-booked test. You can't drive it to be mended.

If you have it tested within a month of the expiry, you will still have a valid MOT to drive on, even if it fails.

BUT It is illegal to drive a car on bald tyres under any circumstances!
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Thankyou, exactly the answer I was looking for :)
 
BigglesPiP said:
Once the MOT has expired, you can only drive it to and from a pre-booked test. You can't drive it to be mended.
Click to expand...

Incorrect I'm afraid, you are allowed to drive your car to a place for (pre-booked) rectification work to be performed, providing the MOT tester hasn't declared the vehicle dangerous to drive. You would still be open to prosecution to obvious fault such as bald tyres etc.
 
/Devils advocate

What if they were 1.5mm (limit being 1.6mm) on the inner half of the tyre? So not so obvious?

:p
 
How inner half? Inside the centre 3/4 or not? Are you measuring the large channels running round the tyre and one's connected to those which don't take a step up? Are you not measuring from a wear bar?
 
Dogbreath said:
Incorrect I'm afraid, you are allowed to drive your car to a place for (pre-booked) rectification work to be performed, providing the MOT tester hasn't declared the vehicle dangerous to drive. You would still be open to prosecution to obvious fault such as bald tyres etc.
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This man speaketh the truth :) I found myself in a similar situation a few years ago (although not on tyres) and when I called VOSA they confirmed the above to be true.

You could argue that driving to a tyre fitters doesn't count though, since you could get a mobile fitter to do the work.
 
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