Your MOT is a legal requirement if you are going to use the UK’s public road network.
And this also applies to cars that are not in use, but that have not been declared SORN (Statutory Off-Road Notice) with the DVLA, and, further, kept behind locked garage doors or fenced into a property. SORN vehicles must not be kept parked on the roadside, as all vehicles on public roads must be insured, and insurers will not cover a vehicle that has no valid MOT. It can be quite a tricky minefield, and offenders, whether they are unaware of the law or simply heedless of it, can find themselves facing fines and worse. Let’s take a look at MOT fines and how to navigate them.
What if I Don’t Get an MOT?
If your MOT certificate has expired, you are breaking the law. The penalty can be as much as a £1,000 fine – and that’s if you are netted by a police check. If your lack of MOT is discovered through your vehicle proving itself to be unroadworthy in an accident, you could end up facing a much larger fine (around £2,500) and/ or a custodial sentence. In the latter case, you will almost certainly lose your car too – the police are authorised to seize and crush any vehicle in egregious breach of the road regulations, especially those that represent a danger to road users. You may also gain three points on your licence, and if you offend twice in this way within three years, you can wind up with a six-month driving ban. So, if your MOT is due, you can get it from professionals at KAP Brighton MOT Testing Workshop – always better safe than sorry in these situations, as the police take a zero tolerance approach with driver offences that put innocent lives (including their own) at risk.
Isn’t There a Grace Period?
There is a persistent rumour that you have up to two weeks after the expiry of your MOT certificate to get a new one. This is, decisively, not true and never has been true! The only ‘grace period’ there ever was occurred during the first Covid-19 lockdown, before vaccines made the spread of the virus a little easier to control – and that was a one-time six month grace period when most cars were off the road. As soon as lockdown conditions lifted and vaccines were innovated, MOT rules reverted to their stringent ‘normal’.
How To Pay My Fine?
If you have a fine due to breaches of MOT law, you will generally have 28 days to pay up. If you do not pay in this time, the fine can be increased by fifty percent – and if law enforcement has to track you down, this can increase your financial burden quite alarmingly, as well as threaten the above-mentioned sanctions of licence points, loss of licence, large fines and even prison sentences. MOT is designed to be quick and easy to adhere to – and the penalties for not doing so are really not worth it!
In summary, maintaining a valid MOT certificate is crucial for legal compliance on UK roads, with severe penalties for non-compliance. Consult professional services to ensure roadworthiness, avoiding fines, potential vehicle seizure, and even imprisonment.
Image via Pixabay