why do kenworth trucks used in the uk not require legally to have an mot 
are they special the police took a driver to court because he got pulled in his kenworth which didnt have an mot. but court found out they dont legally need one in the uk. just wondered why.
surely if there was some sort of an accident the no MOT would be the first thing to come up
cheers
edit: make of truck changed, d’oh.
Seems strange that any vehicle that is registered in the UK would not need a test. We used to look after a yank people carrier for a local dentist. Think it was a Chevy van but it had to go for MOT to the council as it was too wide & heavy for a normal MOT testers ramp
If that story about it being chucked out of court is true (ie there was no other reason), I find it more worrying that a) the police traffic officers didn’t know about it and b) that they didn’t check when (presumably) the truck owner told them, and thereby prevent taxpayers’ money being wasted in police time and court costs. Luvverly country innit.
Cheers…M
edited because it seems I’ve forgotten how to spell
I do wonder if the Kenworth actually was a tractor unit or if it was a recovery vehicle. A recovery vehicle of that type would be exempt an MOT, but I’d seriously doubt that a vehicle regardless of type or make would be exempt MOT if it was engaged in hire & reward operations or even (think Chris Eubank) for private use.
Was it UK registered? If it had recently been imported I think it may be the case that it can run on its US equivalent of an MOT, in the same way that European registered trucks can when they are delivering here. I believe you can do this for 6 months (but willing to be corrected).
Harry Monk:
Was it UK registered? If it had recently been imported I think it may be the case that it can run on its US equivalent of an MOT, in the same way that European registered trucks can when they are delivering here. I believe you can do this for 6 months (but willing to be corrected).
If it’s come from the US then it’ll be a permanent import, unlike if it’s come from Europe. In this case it’ll need some sort of type approval before it’s used in the UK which could give it a year before it needs an MOT. Again I’m willing to be corrected 
not necesarily a permanent import, foreign vehicles can be driven on their respective plates as a temporary import.
There are US registered trucks at Rockingham Raceway fairly regularly, they are shipped in and out of Liverpool via ACL’s Ro-Ro deck on their container ships.
the driver came from st helens as he was pulled in my town some 150 miles away 
, i’m assuming he was making a delivery…
toowise:
not necesarily a permanent import, foreign vehicles can be driven on their respective plates as a temporary import.There are US registered trucks at Rockingham Raceway fairly regularly, they are shipped in and out of Liverpool via ACL’s Ro-Ro deck on their container ships.
Theoretically we could even run an actual TIR commercial service between the two countries using US spec and registered wagons but they won’t let us use Euro specification wagons over there temporarily for commercial work and the shipping rate on that RO RO service is a lot more expensive than the container rate.It was an idea I thought of years ago even when they were using the Atlantic Conveyor before it got wiped out in the Falklands.But we have used permanantly registered KW’s here and type approved with mods to the electrics,brakes and a few other things.See Kenworths in the UK under the old trucks and old firms section on here.If it’s registered here and it’s not showman’s transport etc with an exemption it’s obvious that it would need an MOT and tax?.
Carryfast:
they won’t let us use Euro specification wagons over there temporarily for commercial work
That’s interesting, how do European trucks fail to meet US specs?
i know a chap who owns a western star, he uses it for pulling a large fifth wheel camper.
when he imported it he found that for the truck to pass an mot would involve changing the complete braking system, fittiing a digital tacho with all the relevant sensors and a few other bits and bobs.
costs. big money.
so, he registered it as a showmans vehicle and now it is mot exempt. and therefore does not need the brake system changed or the digi tacho.
Carryfast:
toowise:
not necesarily a permanent import, foreign vehicles can be driven on their respective plates as a temporary import.There are US registered trucks at Rockingham Raceway fairly regularly, they are shipped in and out of Liverpool via ACL’s Ro-Ro deck on their container ships.
Theoretically we could even run an actual TIR commercial service between the two countries using US spec and registered wagons but they won’t let us use Euro specification wagons over there temporarily for commercial work
Maybe not to do haulage work, but I know of some teams who’ve taken they racecar transporters to the states and then driven them to the circuit. They did a story of one of the teams doing it in one of the trucking mags a few years ago. The team had a Renault Magnum which got a fair bit of interest from the American truckers when it was parked up at truckstops.
Harry Monk:
Carryfast:
they won’t let us use Euro specification wagons over there temporarily for commercial workThat’s interesting, how do European trucks fail to meet US specs?
It’s mainly the braking systems and at one time they did’nt even have any at all on the front axle of tractor units (rightly),electrics they usually use 12 volt not 24 and quite a lot of other stuff which is different on ours to theirs under EU type approval and US DOT regs but it seems easier to make a yank wagon suit ours than to make ours suit theirs if you want to use one in Europe or the States permanently and if I could have made that TIR idea work I would have had to use a US spec truck because they won’t allow us to use our spec for temporary use for haulage over there but you can use a US one here if it’s within the length regs (cab over) and I’d have preferred to use a KW etc to a DAF etc anytime anyway.But it was that RO RO rate which sunk the idea not the issue of trucks.