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Two Year MOTs Scrapped

Plans announced by Gordon Brown to ease the burden on motorists by making MOT tests less frequent have now been shelved.

Two years earlier, the then-Chancellor said that MOTs would move to every other year as part of a Government crack-down on bureaucracy and red-tape, and in order to reduce the cost on drivers.

The proposals were finally scrapped after officials calculated that making MOTs compulsory only every two years - rather than annually at present - would lead to a "significant increase" in deaths and injuries on the road.The proposals would also have made MOTs compulsory only for cars above the age of four, rather than three at present.

Currently, the £54 certificate of road-worthiness is compulsory every year for all cars aged three and above.

Mr Brown unveiled his plan to switch the tests to every other year in a speech to the CBI conference in November 2006, eight months before becoming Prime Minister, saying the move would bring Britain into line with the rest of the European Union.

He told the CBI: ``Moving to the EU minimum would mean cost savings in terms of inconvenience, time and paperwork.It would also save motorists pounds £465 million a year in test fees.''

The proposal was based on a recommendation by Lord Davidson, the Labour peer who was commissioned to carry out a review of red tape in Britain compared to the rest of the EU.

Two years later, Jim Fitzpatrick, the Transport Minister admitted that an analysis of the proposal had found a significant cost in human terms.

He said: "Our analysis suggests that a significant number of additional road traffic accidents would be likely if MOT test frequency was reduced”.

"This is primarily because the annual MOT failure rate is already high (around 35 per cent) and if we were to reduce frequency, there is a very real risk that the number of unroadworthy cars would increase significantly. In turn, the number of road casualties would inevitably increase.

"Clearly any significant increase in road traffic accidents or in the number of road casualties would be a wholly unacceptable outcome, and for that reason, our view is that the MOT test frequency should remain unchanged."

Edmund King, president of the AA, welcomed the decision:

"Many drivers rely on the MOT as a safety check and therefore many more unsafe cars would be on our roads if drivers had two years between MOTs.

"The 20 per cent reduction in police carrying out traffic duties in the last decade means that it is less likely that drivers will be stopped for vehicle defects and therefore the annual MOT is vital to ensure that unroadworthy cars are taken off the road.''

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The Retail Motor Industry Federation

Independent garages will soon have to have ATA Registered technicians. The Institute of the Motor Industry are looking at plans to have registered technicians across the country. Three classes of technician will be given a badge valid for five years. The IMI is an accepted standard across industry.