This is a story which we have covered before on Wemoto News, but it just continues to run and has re-emerged recently in a slightly different form, as the frequency of the MOT is currently in the spotlight. There has been a government suggestion that the MOT should only be done once every two years instead of annually, as it has been historically, in order to save people money.

As we reported previously, a lot of examiners were banned from performing MOTs during 2021 and this is continuing into 2022. Over 1000 fraudulent tests have been uncovered by the DVSA, leading to nearly 300 examiners being banned from running MOT stations.

The BMF (British Motorcyclists Federation) has reported a shocking number of times when MOTs were found to be fraudulent, many of those apparently due to negligence or dishonesty. Examples were found where vehicles had been passed, even though they had serious safety failings like missing brake pads. These omissions could lead the drivers or riders of the incorrectly tested vehicles, to believe that their vehicles are safe when in fact they could have serious mechanical failings which could lead to accidents.

Apart from MOT stations failing their customers, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA) is not in favour of MOTs only taking place every two years. They believe that it would just mean that more dangerous and unroadworthy machines were out on the roads for longer before they even stood a chance of having mechanical faults picked up. The BMF recognises that MOTs are essential to keep vehicles safe on the roads both for the sake of the driver or rider of the vehicle being MOT'd itself and for all the other road users. They cite tyres as being the biggest area for MOT failures, which is of course particularly of note to motorcyclists as tyre failure can be really dangerous and leaving unsafe tyres for two years instead of one could be very problematic from a safety point of view. For riders or drivers who cover a lot of miles in a year commuting or despatching or delivering goods in particular, not having an annual MOT could lead to their riding unroadworthy machines without it being picked up in time.

The reduction in MOT frequency would mean riders making a one off saving of the cost of the annual MOT and any resulting maintenance their bike needed. However it could have a far higher safety cost or mechanical cost if it led to their bike being dangerous on the roads.

Any thoughts on this one? Would you like to save the annual MOT cost going forward and go down to once every two years, or prefer to stick to the way things are now for safety's sake?

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Thanks to Joffrey Cramoisan again for the picture