On my way home tonight and had a tug from a traffic car. He said my MOT ran out in November, I said I’d MOTed my car but had every document with me except the MOT.
I then get a fixed penalty of £100 with advice from the copper, who was fair enough, that if you’ve got an MOT send it off to the courts and that’ll be the end of it.
I then ring my MOT centre, a main dealer who checks his records and says…actually we didn’t MOT the car. They failed it for a tyre and a track rod end but didn’t re test it after wards. They charged me for it but technically I’ve had no MOT for 3 months.
The garage have said they’ll write to the courts admitting their error, and even saying to me that they’ll stand the £100.
But what will the court do? I should have realised that I didn’t get an MOT pass certificate, just paid the bill.
What would you do? Obviously my car is back in the same garage getting tested.
Pay up or write a grovelly letter?
I had similar a long time ago. With there being no MOT i was summonsed for having no insurance.
But in my case, I simply forgot that it had ran out.
I got it tested the day after i got a tug and it passed. I contacted my insurance company and they said they would have covered me as the car was clearly in good order, They put it in writing for me and i just showed the letter at court.
That was the end of that.
Unfortunately for you, the law says it is your sole responsibility to ensure that your car is roadworthy and has a valid MOT, and, regardless of the involvement of the garage who should have informed you that they hadn’t issued an MOT, the blame falls squarely on your shoulders as far as the law is concerned.
Best to accept the fixed penalty offer, if you decline it and instead go to court to plead your case, it is extremely likely that you will lose and the fine could be higher than the £100 fixed penalty.
I would take up the offer from the garage and let them pay your fine.
i’d be seriously ■■■■■■ off with your garage-however,surely you should notice that when you put the car in for test you didnt get a new mot certificate when you picked it up? did you even ask them if it passed?
limeyphil:
I had similar a long time ago. With there being no MOT i was summonsed for having no insurance.
But in my case, I simply forgot that it had ran out.
I got it tested the day after i got a tug and it passed. I contacted my insurance company and they said they would have covered me as the car was clearly in good order, They put it in writing for me and i just showed the letter at court.
That was the end of that.
The insurance company had no choice - they cannot invalidate your 3rd party liability insurance on the grounds that you have no MoT certificate.
Roymondo:
limeyphil:
I had similar a long time ago. With there being no MOT i was summonsed for having no insurance.
But in my case, I simply forgot that it had ran out.
I got it tested the day after i got a tug and it passed. I contacted my insurance company and they said they would have covered me as the car was clearly in good order, They put it in writing for me and i just showed the letter at court.
That was the end of that.The insurance company had no choice - they cannot invalidate your 3rd party liability insurance on the grounds that you have no MoT certificate.
+1
andrew.s:
i’d be seriously ■■■■■■ off with your garage-however,surely you should notice that when you put the car in for test you didnt get a new mot certificate when you picked it up? did you even ask them if it passed?
I had a conversation about what it needed when it had failed, I assumed that they’d retest which they thought they’d done. The fist of paper I came away with said that they’d charged £40 for a test and quoted the test pass certificate.
Yeah point taken about my sole responsibility. I should have checked.
You will plead guilty because you are as it’s an absolute offence. Forward the letter from the garage along with your own grovelling letter pointing out your previous good character and apologising to the court. You might be fortunate and not even get a fine. If you scrub up well, a personal appearance can make a difference.
alphonsohall:
Roymondo:
limeyphil:
I had similar a long time ago. With there being no MOT i was summonsed for having no insurance.
But in my case, I simply forgot that it had ran out.
I got it tested the day after i got a tug and it passed. I contacted my insurance company and they said they would have covered me as the car was clearly in good order, They put it in writing for me and i just showed the letter at court.
That was the end of that.The insurance company had no choice - they cannot invalidate your 3rd party liability insurance on the grounds that you have no MoT certificate.
+1
Failure to hold a valid MOT is an offence under Section 47 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and can result in a fine of up to £1000. The offence of driving without an MOT does not carry penalty points although most policies of insurance will become invalid without an MOT being in place, which could lead to an offence of driving without insurance which carries between 6 and 8 penalty points.
DrivingMissDaisy:
You will plead guilty because you are as it’s an absolute offence. Forward the letter from the garage along with your own grovelling letter pointing out your previous good character and apologising to the court. You might be fortunate and not even get a fine. If you scrub up well, a personal appearance can make a difference.
The OP has already been issued a fixed penalty notice (£100), he either accepts the fixed penalty (ie…accepts guilt), or he declines it and opts for a court hearing where he will face a higher fine, and as the offence is an ‘absolute offence’, he will most certainly be found guilty and come off worse financially.
limeyphil:
alphonsohall:
Roymondo:
limeyphil:
I had similar a long time ago. With there being no MOT i was summonsed for having no insurance.
But in my case, I simply forgot that it had ran out.
I got it tested the day after i got a tug and it passed. I contacted my insurance company and they said they would have covered me as the car was clearly in good order, They put it in writing for me and i just showed the letter at court.
That was the end of that.The insurance company had no choice - they cannot invalidate your 3rd party liability insurance on the grounds that you have no MoT certificate.
+1
Failure to hold a valid MOT is an offence under Section 47 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and can result in a fine of up to £1000. The offence of driving without an MOT does not carry penalty points although most policies of insurance will become invalid without an MOT being in place, which could lead to an offence of driving without insurance which carries between 6 and 8 penalty points.
In the event of a claim, the 3rd party element of your car insurance will remain valid (by law) if the car is not MOT’d, though own damage claims would be invalidated
alphonsohall:
limeyphil:
alphonsohall:
Roymondo:
limeyphil:
I had similar a long time ago. With there being no MOT i was summonsed for having no insurance.
But in my case, I simply forgot that it had ran out.
I got it tested the day after i got a tug and it passed. I contacted my insurance company and they said they would have covered me as the car was clearly in good order, They put it in writing for me and i just showed the letter at court.
That was the end of that.The insurance company had no choice - they cannot invalidate your 3rd party liability insurance on the grounds that you have no MoT certificate.
+1
Failure to hold a valid MOT is an offence under Section 47 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and can result in a fine of up to £1000. The offence of driving without an MOT does not carry penalty points although most policies of insurance will become invalid without an MOT being in place, which could lead to an offence of driving without insurance which carries between 6 and 8 penalty points.
In the event of a claim, the 3rd party element of your car insurance will remain valid (by law) if the car is not MOT’d, though own damage claims would be invalidated
Can you share a link to that? There’s quite a few people that have been hauled before the courts for no insurance due to having no MOT.
Pay the £100 fine as it is non-endorsable, then send the garage a bill for the £100
If they admitted it was there fault and agreed to pay it, dont bother arguing with them as they will just pass it on to the Magistrates who will fine even more.
mick.mh2racing:
I had a conversation about what it needed when it had failed, I assumed that they’d retest which they thought they’d done. The fist of paper I came away with said that they’d charged £40 for a test and quoted the test pass certificate.
Come on, everybody knows whether their car has passed or failed the MOT test, it’s not rocket science. 
trubster:
Pay the £100 fine as it is non-endorsable, then send the garage a bill for the £100If they admitted it was there fault and agreed to pay it, dont bother arguing with them as they will just pass it on to the Magistrates who will fine even more.
+1
And ask for a discount on your next service.
mick.mh2racing:
On my way home tonight and had a tug from a traffic car. He said my MOT ran out in November, I said I’d MOTed my car but had every document with me except the MOT.
I then get a fixed penalty of £100 with advice from the copper, who was fair enough, that if you’ve got an MOT send it off to the courts and that’ll be the end of it.
I then ring my MOT centre, a main dealer who checks his records and says…actually we didn’t MOT the car. They failed it for a tyre and a track rod end but didn’t re test it after wards. They charged me for it but technically I’ve had no MOT for 3 months.
The garage have said they’ll write to the courts admitting their error, and even saying to me that they’ll stand the £100.
But what will the court do? I should have realised that I didn’t get an MOT pass certificate, just paid the bill.
What would you do? Obviously my car is back in the same garage getting tested.
Pay up or write a grovelly letter?
Surely this should have been posted on a different site 
CARNETUK.COM
limeyphil:
alphonsohall:
Roymondo:
limeyphil:
I had similar a long time ago. With there being no MOT i was summonsed for having no insurance.
But in my case, I simply forgot that it had ran out.
I got it tested the day after i got a tug and it passed. I contacted my insurance company and they said they would have covered me as the car was clearly in good order, They put it in writing for me and i just showed the letter at court.
That was the end of that.The insurance company had no choice - they cannot invalidate your 3rd party liability insurance on the grounds that you have no MoT certificate.
+1
Failure to hold a valid MOT is an offence under Section 47 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and can result in a fine of up to £1000. The offence of driving without an MOT does not carry penalty points although most policies of insurance will become invalid without an MOT being in place, which could lead to an offence of driving without insurance which carries between 6 and 8 penalty points.
What’s with the smokescreen about penalty points? I’m not disputing the fact that it’s an offence to drive without a valid MoT certificate (where the vehicle is required to have one). My issue is with the assertion that your (legally required, 3rd Party liability) insurance is magically made to disappear when your MoT cerificate expires. It doesn’t. Your insurer may well decline to pay out on your own damage (if you have Comprehensive cover) and they may even come after you to recover any 3rd Party claims they have paid out (if you have breached your contract terms by not having a valid MoT certificate), but they CANNOT void your (3rd Party liability) insurance certificate just because you have no MoT.
limeyphil:
Can you share a link to that? There’s quite a few people that have been hauled before the courts for no insurance due to having no MOT.
Can YOU share a link to any case where that has happened?
limeyphil:
alphonsohall:
limeyphil:
alphonsohall:
Roymondo:
limeyphil:
I had similar a long time ago. With there being no MOT i was summonsed for having no insurance.
But in my case, I simply forgot that it had ran out.
I got it tested the day after i got a tug and it passed. I contacted my insurance company and they said they would have covered me as the car was clearly in good order, They put it in writing for me and i just showed the letter at court.
That was the end of that.The insurance company had no choice - they cannot invalidate your 3rd party liability insurance on the grounds that you have no MoT certificate.
+1
Failure to hold a valid MOT is an offence under Section 47 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and can result in a fine of up to £1000. The offence of driving without an MOT does not carry penalty points although most policies of insurance will become invalid without an MOT being in place, which could lead to an offence of driving without insurance which carries between 6 and 8 penalty points.
In the event of a claim, the 3rd party element of your car insurance will remain valid (by law) if the car is not MOT’d, though own damage claims would be invalidated
Can you share a link to that? There’s quite a few people that have been hauled before the courts for no insurance due to having no MOT.
Road Traffic Act 1988 section 148 (2) (b).
alphonsohall:
DrivingMissDaisy:
You will plead guilty because you are as it’s an absolute offence. Forward the letter from the garage along with your own grovelling letter pointing out your previous good character and apologising to the court. You might be fortunate and not even get a fine. If you scrub up well, a personal appearance can make a difference.The OP has already been issued a fixed penalty notice (£100), he either accepts the fixed penalty (ie…accepts guilt), or he declines it and opts for a court hearing where he will face a higher fine, and as the offence is an ‘absolute offence’, he will most certainly be found guilty and come off worse financially.
Agree with what you say, I’d forgotten the highlighted bit!