Speeding MOT fine

[Pootle]

I got flashed by a speed camera a few weeks ago and have been sent a letter stating I am going to be fined and points etc. When I got flashed, the MOT on my car had expired by about a week, the car has since been passed and there was a period of about 3 weeks when the car had no MOT as I just didnt get around to sorting it out. My question is, will the police do MOT checks when processing the speeding incident and if so, am I about to receive a hefty fine?

[Calvesy]

Just pay the fine and swallow the points. The last thing you need is to have to produce documents at a cop shop or take this to court, where you are so in the wrong. Technically your insurance would have been void and you would be committing further offences by driving in a unroadworthy vehicle. How's your tax, by the way? And is your phone off when you drive? Check your brake lights and washer fluid, make sure you and all your passengers wear seat belts, look out for tyre wear, don't drive after a drink. The cops won't pull you over if you keep it legal.

As for computerised database checks the police national computer and DVLA are not linked up to MOT certificates, insurance etc (YET!!) hence the producer you don't need.

[hugnie21]

Don't think you'd even need to ask this question if you weren't breaking the law twice with the speeding and the MOT. There's a moral to this story!

[lukey121]

no don't worry, you'll be ok.  you will have to pay the speeding fine of course, but dont worry about the MOT

[JOEYSHABADO]

I was pulled over in England for taking a left where illegal. I had to produce. I produced, MOT out of date and no insurance (my insurer told me they had not renewed). Of course, I used my charm and pizzaz on the local cop shop lady, to talk away the situation (I was very young at the time, what an idiot). No insurance is an extremely serious offence, I was told to wait for a court date. Then my bank statement came in, insurers had direct debited me, turned out they were wrong, I was insured. Doh!

So I called up the police, and told them I was worried about the lack of MOT. The policewoman was reaaaally p****ed off about me going on about it. She advised me to 'do nothing, it would simply blow over'. Lack of insurance is a massive crime, you kill someone, there's no comeback. You have no MOT????If you kill someone, it's a big deal. But if there's no accident, even if you have to produce, so what??? They won't care so much, especially just a couple of weeks over. I was advised (by legally qualified persons) that lack of insurance applies to the driver, whereas lack of MOT really applies to the car.

Calvesy's spiel above has some inaccuracies in it, eg 'driving an unroadworthy vehicle'. Driving a non MOTed car is not driving an unroadworthy vehicle, any more than driving a just-MOTed car is driving a roadworthy vehicle. It is a test of the basics, but a lack of it does not mean that your car is suddenly unroadworthy. If you drive out with nonfunctioning brakes, with an MOT, and crash, expect to get done. But no MOT, especially a few weeks out of date? Who gives a rats.

[BillyNoMates]

There IS a database which the Police have access to in order to verify if a car is insured or not. Check the small print of your policy - it will state this fact.

MOTs were supposed to be on a similar database last year sometime. But as with many Government IT projects it is way behind schedule.

[Skids]

Everyone get off your high horses and just give a straight answer.

You were caught by a camera and received a fine. Pay the fine, get the points. They're not interested in checking the background history of you or your car as long as you pay up in time. It would take too many people too long just to find that your MOT was out of date for a couple of weeks.
If they actually checked up on everybody regularly it would take about ten years and half the population would be banned for something or other.

[JOEYSHABADO]

And that's a straight answer how?

[Bangkok]

Joey, not having an MOT invalidates most (all?) motor insurance policies.