It’s not often that we get good vibes from Whitehall, but there was welcome news on the MoT front yesterday when the Government kicked off a consultation over whether to scrap MoT tests for pre-1960 classics.
The move comes thanks to a ruling in Brussels: the Department of Transport initiated the notion to exempt vehicles of historic interest (which it deems as being manufactured prior to 1 January 1960) in Great Britain from annual Ministry of Transport test under Article 4(2) of European Union Directive 2009/40/EC.
The move has been welcomed by Greg Knight (below), chair of the All Party Parliamentary Historic Vehicles Group: “Accidents involving historic vehicles are extremely rare. Having to have an annual MoT test for a vehicle that may only travel 500 miles in a year is an unnecessary bureaucratic hurdle”.
Knight believes that the proposed exemption will reduce the regulatory burden on owners of historic vehicles and said: “It will also bring the age of vehicles requiring the statutory MoT test in line with The Goods Vehicles (Plating and Testing) Regulations 1988, which already exempts unladen pre-’1960-manufactured Heavy Goods Vehicles.
“While pre-1960 licensed vehicles made up about 0.6% of the approximately 35.2m licensed vehicles in the country in 2010, they were involved in just 0.03% of road casualties and accidents. Pre-1960 licensed vehicles are largely well-maintained by their owners. The initial MoT test failure rate for these vehicles in 2009 was less than 10%, while the initial MoT test failure rate for post-1960 licensed vehicles was over 30%.”
But owners of pre-’60 classics won’t be entirely off the hook because they will still be legally required to ensure that their classic cars are safe, roadworthy and in a proper condition to be on the road.
Knight added: “Maintaining a vehicle over 50 years old is all about maintaining our heritage – not cheap motoring. The vast majority of owners are meticulous in keeping their vehicles in an excellent condition, even to higher standards than that required by MOT testers.”
