Driving with mot failure on the 11 month

[johnnyb44]

Hi to all.
Its that old chestnut of a thread again. My cars mot is due on 1st of December and in the past I've always put it through an mot a month earlier simply because if it passes I get 13 months and if it doesn't I get a month to rectify any mot failures. A thread was started here a good few months back questioning whether your car was actually legal to drive if it fails the mot on the 11 month with lots of clashing views on the subject. Did this thread ever come to a foregone conclusion as to what is the law. When I booked my car in today for its mot I asked the tester "what was what" over this and he did seem to give a sensible answer. He firstly said it was a grey area of the law but his belief was that if my car failed and I then got stopped a few days later I would not be in trouble for not having an mot certificate because I still have a valid one which was issued and deemed to last for the year by the governmental laws. Obviously within that time frame we are held responsible for keeping our cars in a road worthy condition. He also said though ,if I did get stopped by the police after an mot fail on the 11 month they could prosecute me for driving with intent . I,e driving a vehicle with a known fault that was brought to my attention by a failed mot. It's all bit confusing to me, because on the one hand your car could fail because of a simple side light is out or a passenger wiper blade has seen its best. These things are a relatively minor concern and would not be classed as dangerous in the real world ,but you would still be breaking the law to the same extent if your car had badly corroded brake pipes or a leaking fuel tank which would be dam right dangerous. Obviously like all members here I will make sure my pride and joy is sorted as quickly as possible if it fails, but it will still be at the back of my mind as to whether I will still be legally allowed to drive my car the following day to work if it's failed on something small and minor..If I were to drive past one of those ANPR cameras the day after a failed mot which was issued on the 11 month would I get a knock on the door by the boys in blue or do they show some discretion with such things. Ahhhh the mind boggles :-))))