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I wasn’t surprised to read that over 1,000 drivers each year appeal MOT test results. However I was surprised to read that these appeals were against a pass rather than a fail. Only 100 appeal a fail each year with about 40 being successful.

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So why would anyone appeal a pass? As it turns out it is quite logical, they are customers who have bought a used car with a new or relatively new MOT that they subsequently feel is dodgy and want to use the results of the appeal to either return the car or take a dealer to court.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) confirmed that over 1,250 motorists contacted them in 2014 believing that their car should have failed. The number is increasing as this figure is up by 100 from 2013.

As for those appealing a fail whilst only 116 in 2014 this is the highest over the last 5 years. Of the 1,250 appeals against passed cars only 22% were successful but that shows that nearly a quarter of cars sold with a Full MOT are not roadworthy.

That is frightening. The DVSA carry out an annual Compliance Survey whereby they carry out retests on recently tested cars. They found that 15% of all MOT’s are wrong. Over 11% were given a fail when in fact they passed and 18% were given a pass when they should have failed.

I find that even more frightening! What is wrong with our testing systems whether they are for safety reasons or emission reasons. This isn’t good enough. By Graham Hill

Currently when you reach the age of 70 you have to renew your driving licence. However, according to the Department for Transport this should be extended to the age of 80 in order to reduce DVLA costs and make it more efficient.

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Following a review, on behalf of the Government, the DfT concluded that we should change the rules to bring the UK in line with Europe who already have a renewal age of 80. At present there are over 4 million motorists over the age of 70 which represents a substantial amount of administration at renewal time, so by extending the renewal date the admin costs will be cut significantly.

But safety campaigners object to the proposal on the grounds of health and safety. In fact they suggest that there should be increased controls on the elderly not less which could cost lives. I don’t agree, not least of which as I am edging my way towards 70 I don’t really want to have to renew my licence.

Department for Transport (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On the other hand the government could take the savings and fix a few more potholes which would prevent many more accidents than extending the licence renewal dates! By Graham Hill

Related articles

• Cost-cutting Coalition to let pensioners drive till they’re 80 without renewing licence (mirror.co.uk)

The Department for Transport is about to make us all paperless when it comes to our driving licences. In 2014 the paper part of the latest driving licences will be scrapped, which isn’t a bad thing as most people manage to lose them anyway. The old style licences will be scrapped soon after to be replaced with the photocard versions. The DVLA is Read more »

The net is closing in on those that don’t insure their cars. The new rules that have just come into force enables the DVLA to clamp your car and even scrap it if you have no insurance on it. The new rules, entitled Continuous Insurance Enforcement extends the powers of the DVLA beyond issuing driving licences and vehicle registration documents to Read more »

Image via Wikipedia

In a report prepared by Auto Express they have revealed that motorists should be aware of the ways that automatic number plate recognition (APNR) is now being used. We have become obsessed with cameras watching our every move, whatever we’re doing from driving to walking down the street, buying a bar of chocolate or catching a train. But Read more »

I’m actually in a state of shock – ish! Whilst thumbing through the advice pages of Autoexpress I noticed that someone had asked the question, should you blur out the car’s registration number when advertising your car online? Now this is something I’ve had an issue with for sometime. It seems quite obvious that you should blur out the number to me Read more »

Do you know how long points stay on your licence for? Most people think 3 years but in fact speeding offences stay on there for 4 years and others stay on for longer. For example drink driving points remain on your licence for 11 years. Even though speeding points stay on your licence for 4 years they are only valid for 3 years.

So if you have 9 points on your licence after 3 years but clock up another 3 points in the 4^th year you wont lose your licence under the totting up system. The expired points can be removed from your licence by the DVLA but you will have to pay a fee of £20 for a replacement ‘clean’ licence. Are you confused by the points system, let’s discuss? By Graham Hill

DVLA figures show that one in ten motorists have points on their licence. The figures have been broken down by age sex and number of points. It also shows that the Government has collected £280 million from the 3.9 million drivers with points on their licence over the last 4 years (the minimum amount of time before points are cleared. That’s out of a total 37 million licence holders. The majority of drivers with points have just 3 points (3.2m). Just under 600,000 have 6 points and 92,000 Read more »

There is another web scam going about as revealed by the DVLA. The email which includes a few spelling mistakes (bit of a giveaway) asks the recipient to click on a Department for Transport web address and fill in some details. It goes on to warn that if you fail to do so it will cause you to lose your drivers licence and you will have to re-take your test. The URL (web address) isn’t obviously a DVLA address but the template used for the site looks genuine and includes links to agency pages in the Read more »

Labour MP Brian Donohoe is calling for tax discs to be scrapped suggesting that paper discs affixed to the windscreen is old fashioned and should be unnecessary in the 21^st century, whilst pointing out that the cost of creating the discs is £5 million a year and £14 million to send out suggesting that there must be other ways of displaying whether road tax has been paid including Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras. However, the police don’t agree saying that tax discs are vital for Read more »