MOT test advice - no Rover/MG content

[GordyB]

Hi All

Can anyone in the know answer a simple question please. My sons Golf failed it's MOT today, with a "dangerous defect" for Parking brake efficiency. He's been told to not drive it by the garage and said he shouldn't even drive it home.

What I need to know is can we simply get the handbrake sorted and then drive the car until the existing MOT runs out (3 weeks) or does it stay as dangerous and do not drive until retested and the dangerous marker is removed? Couple of other issues on the car which will take longer to sort, but I want him to be able to use the car on Monday for work if possible......

GOV.UK says the following

A direct and immediate risk to road safety or has a serious impact on the environment.
Do not drive the vehicle until it’s been repaired.

Help !

Thanks

[75c]

Yes, once its been repaired you can drive it on the old mot.


''Do not drive the vehicle until it’s been repaired.''

[P-Nut]

https://www.gov.uk/getting-an-mot/after-the-test

"You can take your vehicle away if:

your current MOT certificate is still valid
no ‘dangerous’ problems were listed in the MOT
Otherwise, you’ll need to get it repaired before you can drive."

Legally speaking, yes if it is roadworthy

[GordyB]

OK Thanks , so what you are saying is we only need to have it fixed (handbrake adjustment) and we can then drive it without a retest?

Thanks

[Andy_with_a_screwdriver]

Personally speaking I struggle to see how an inefficient parking brake makes a car unsafe to drive? It is not used when actually being driven just when it is parked.
If it still not working properly at that point then the vehicle's wheels could be chocked.

My handbrake on the tourer didn't work properly for over a year and it passed two MOTs in that time, but was useless for holding the car on a hill.

[Moonshine Mark]

Originally Posted by Andy_with_a_screwdriver

Personally speaking I struggle to see how an inefficient parking brake makes a car unsafe to drive? It is not used when actually being driven just when it is parked.
If it still not working properly at that point then the vehicle's wheels could be chocked.

My handbrake on the tourer didn't work properly for over a year and it passed two MOTs in that time, but was useless for holding the car on a hill.

If your car is parked at the top of a hill and starts to roll due to an inefficient handbrake and kills a pedestrian at the bottom I would class that as a dangerous fault.

I think the original question is a grey area, I would have thought you needed the retest to prove that you had fixed the fault but could be wrong, as all the literature says the car cannot be driven on the road but nothing I can find about retesting rules. Seems very much unlike our laws to give the benefit of the doubt and trust people to be honest about fixing it.

[trikey]

Rules written by people with zero motoring knowledge.

[Andy_with_a_screwdriver]

Originally Posted by Moonshine Mark

If your car is parked at the top of a hill and starts to roll due to an inefficient handbrake and kills a pedestrian at the bottom I would class that as a dangerous fault.

As I said that doesn't make the vehicle unsafe to "drive". The mot test centre has no power to stop you removing your vehicle. If they are overly concerned they would need to contact the Police or VOSA and let them deal with it.

Originally Posted by Andy_with_a_screwdriver

If it still not working properly at that point then the vehicle's wheels could be chocked.

If it was parked in gear , with the front wheels turned and wedged on the kerb or appropriately chocked then it would be just as safe (if not safer) than solely using the parking brake.

Anybody who parks a car and does not leave it in gear is asking for trouble, even with a working parking brake. It is common sense to use this method as a back up to a parking brake. I always do it even on the flat, having always lived on hills it was drummed into me by old man when I was learning.

[sworks]

If it’s failed on a dangerous defect then it should be repaired before being used on the road. I don’t understand why you would repair the handbrake then run it on the old certificate, why not just get it retested?

[Moonshine Mark]

Originally Posted by Andy_with_a_screwdriver

As I said that doesn't make the vehicle unsafe to "drive". The mot test centre has no power to stop you removing your vehicle. If they are overly concerned they would need to contact the Police or VOSA and let them deal with it.


If it was parked in gear , with the front wheels turned and wedged on the kerb or appropriately chocked then it would be just as safe (if not safer) than solely using the parking brake.

Anybody who parks a car and does not leave it in gear is asking for trouble, even with a working parking brake. It is common sense to use this method as a back up to a parking brake. I always do it even on the flat, having always lived on hills it was drummed into me by old man when I was learning.

Agree, unfortunately the general public aren't as sensible as people around here.

Luckily my ZT is an auto and has a R53 compensator so no problems here