Autumn pub meet to celebrate the end of the MoT

[Ian Grace]

I have been trying to organize something to replace the Hatchgate meet, as the Hatchgate has closed. In the spring, we moved to the nearby Shoulder of Mutton, but we originally moved from that hostelry to the Hatchgate because the service was not good.

We traditionally meet with the Bean Car Club at the Hatchgate, as we have several shared members. But the BCC is busy in October with an autumn run and their AGM.

Then Simon Hodgins called on the new VMR Oxford pseudo number (which works perfectly, by the way) and suggested Sunday 18th November. Although a little late in the autumn, this is the day that the MoT requirement ends for our cars, so it might be apposite to hold an MoT Emancipation pub meet on that day! Mike Jones has suggested the Phoenix in Hartley Wintney, a suggestion with which I thoroughly concur, as it was my local for many years (in my mis-spent youth!). This is the pub where the VSCC was fgounded in 1934 and they have been meeting there ever since.

So the suggestion is The Phoenix on Sunday 18th November - and if your car isn't MoT'd, bring it along - legally - anyway!

[Ian Grace]

Meet confirmed - the MoT Emancipation Meet with the Bean Car Club at the Phoenix, lunchtime Sunday 18th November!

Also, we will also meet on New Year's Day with the Bean Car Club at The Crooked Billet, Honey Hill near Wokingham.

[garagiste]

Should we be celebrating the end of the MoT test?

Yes, the MoT test is an expensive inconvenience; however it being abolished for pre 1960 cars to my mind opens a whole can of worms.

There are insurance implications, the prospect of restrictions on use, the views of car owners who have to have an MoT test, to say nothing of the 1950s "rust rot boxes" that can become unroadworthy very rapidly.

Of the many VSCC members to whom I have spoken none want to see the end of testing. The only person who I have spoken to who thinks it a good idea was a VMR member at the pre war Prescott who said it was "unnecessary" - I think this is a very short sighted view.

[Trevor Wilkinson]

I wonder how many completed the on line questionare asking for their views on the stopping of the MoT test,according to the results published it would seem very few.
I believe anyone wanting their car MoT'd can still request it and it will be tested as normal.

[Ian Grace]

I agree with retaining the MoT, but I'm always looking for excuses to encourage members to take their cars down the pub! Hence the Phoenix meet which replaces the autumn Hatchgate meet, as the Hatchgate has gone out of business.

Having said that, there is no equivalent of the MoT here in the US, and old cars here don't seem to spontaneously fall apart any more frequently than in the UK or elsewhere. The difference in the UK is that this relaxation is aimed at a relatively tiny, separate and peripheral group of vehicles, and so the door is opened for the introduction of more restrictive rules for them in terms of usage, etc.

I understand that voluntary testing will still be available, but to what standard? Will a certificate be issued, or is this going to be just an informal safety check?

[plj]

My understanding is that vehicles presented for a voluntary test should be tested in accordance with and to the same standards as any other vehicle, the problem comes if it fails then continues in use without rectification and presentation for a retest. Would insurance then be void? Would there be grounds for the police to automatically take the car off the road and crush it because presumably a "fail" would be on the DVLA data base? Interesting questions, It seems that a bit like the "dangerous dogs act" this legislation has gone through with a lack of thought and is now being made up as we go along. For my part I will continue to have my cars tested, not because I doubt my own abilities, having owned a testing station, but because being retired I no longer have the necessary equipment such as ramps and rolling roads and a second opinion is always good.

[Trevor Wilkinson]

It is strange at the number of people in favour of keeping the MoT test, the published results of the on line survey show that there were, from memory, about seventy individuals nationwide that bothered to take part, there now seems to be vast numbers that are in favour of keeping the test.
Where were they before?
And yes,I did take part!

[plj]

And I.

[ian judd]

Me too, and much good it did! Anyway, I shall continue to get one now I know that I can. You never know when you might need that piece of paper.

[Toby]

With or without the MOT you were, and will still be, obliged to keep the car roadworthy. The MOT does not mean your car is safe or that the police won't check it over if they stop you, it just means it was ok on a given date. I have heard of fixed penalties for as little as the battery restraint not being done up or an empty washer bottle. Knowing us enthusiasts I am sure there is a lot of fettling and meddling between MOTs which could render a car unsafe!