I'm riding my Baby for its 16,000 mile service on Tuesday, it is Sorned and without MOT.The garage where i'm taking him assures me that if Mr Plod pulls me over for having no Tax i will be fine because the bike is booked in for the MOT to be done.. Is this correct....? It dont feel right to me.. Plus i'm taking the bike to Miles kingsport in Hull where the police are a bit.. Touchy..
Pre booked mot covers you regards road tax as far as I am aware but you must go directly to mot station and directly back home
I will tax the bike before i pick it up... Im enjoying having a clean licence and really don't want to get unnecessary points.. Thanks.... !!
As said pre booked MOT will cover you. Any hassle from Plod just smile sweetly and don't accept a Fixed Penalty Notice, will be a good chance to embarrass him later on.
As said, riding to a pre booked MOT without tax is perfectly legal, although obviously it must be insured. You must also ride by the most direct route, and if it fails, again you are allowed to ride it home or to a place of repair, but again by the most direct route. So for example, if you live in London, you would be allowed to ride to a pre booked MOT in say Yorkshire, but you would have to ride there on the most direct route. But, whilst this is a statutory defence to riding without an MOT, it does not preclude someone being booked if for example the bike is in a dangerous condition or there were bookable defects. Oh, and no MOT is non endorsable, no points.
Just playing Devils Advocate here, can you imagine having an accident whilst riding to an MOT, and the insurance then finding out you had no MOT or Road Tax, not saying it's illegal, just the minefield of glue you have just ridden into.
Doesn't work that way. It is a statutory defence in law, and the insurers know that if they went down that route, the courts would crucify them (as has happened in the past when they have tried this trick). What it does affect, which is a separate issue, is valuations, as they will take the view that a bike without a current MOT is worth less than a bike with (nothing new on this score )
Good news,managed to get to the garage without any police attention,, I have been given a courtesy bike to come home on,unfortunately it isn't an SP.. No its a NC700...
Well done on getting there without incedent, just a note, tax is a tax offence not endorsable they just fine you from the start of the month in the case of 70 odd quid. lf you owe them a couple of million of course it would be a little different I would imagine.
But you cannot get done for any offence unless the owner failed to declare a SORN. Yes it is a vehicles excise offence, but you cannot get prosecuted for no tax if it was being taken to a pre-arranged MOT. And these days the key word is pre-arranged because the DVLA were out on the A3 yesterday with their own ANPR looking for tax dodgers, and the first anyone will know about it is when the summons drops through the post. Simply saying that you were on your way to a pre-arranged MOT won't cut it, you will need to have reasonable proof, which will be either a new MOT issued on the day that the vehicle was tested or the fail certificate (which will also be on the day that it was seen.) As a by the by, it is a non endorseable offence, but the penalty is the back duty owed (back to the date of the last known tax disc) and up to 5 time the amount of back duty owed, so it can get expensive.
