Morris Minor Owners Club

Being in a similar position I just gave up going round in circles ,it was far less time consuming and hassle in the end just to go and get an MOT at the usual time that it was due recently.

This could have been a modern script included for re running the old sit com 'Yes Minister'

I must just be lucky. Having seen all this correspondence, I just logged on to DVLA and my Traveller, which has been SORN for about 5 years. It automatically gave me 12 months tax at GBP 0.00 from 1 May 2018. All I have to do now is get her going again. and yes, I will MOT when ready, to check that I have done all the checks correctly.

same for ours at least 15 years off the road and declared sorn when we bought it 5 years ago, went on line and didn't even get asked to tick a box about substantially modified, it just went straight through and it'snow road legal, bonnet is still being painted but at least I can legally move it from one drive to the other.

It will be interesting to see what happens when someone submits one for the new MOT. One of the new requirements is no leaks which could damage the environment, does this mean a drip from the rear of the crank which many seem to suffer from (inculuding ours after only an hour or so's running) is going to be a failure?

MOTs are often not worth the virtual paper they are written on.
For example, take a look at the items that are to be included in the new additions to the MOT.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/mot- ... 0-may-2018

if tyres are obviously underinflated
if the brake fluid has been contaminated
for fluid leaks posing an environmental risk
brake pad warning lights and if brake pads or discs are missing

Now you might thank that the last one of those is a bit strange, but until now, so long as your car passed the brake capability test on the rolling road, you could have metal on metal grinding of the brakes!

The 2nd one on the new list, is purely subjective. If the fluid looks a bit cloudy, the tester can/should fail it. There's no checking of the fluid with a meter for water contamination, just that it 'looks a bit off'.
Top one, well it looks a bit flat to me, but who's to say and what about if it's over inflated, which is just as dangerous; what if 3 are over inflated and 1 is correct; the odd one out will look underinflated......

At the moment, I don't think my Moggie brakes are as good as they could/should be, because it's not been on the road for a few months so no doubt the drums are a bit rusty, but it would most likely pass the rolling road test.......

So I don't put as much faith in MOTs as others might....

I am wondering whether my from England imported Traveller which is still shown on the Govt listing even though it has been registered here since 6 years, could also be taxed ? I will have a go on the website and let you know

Edit: Failed at the first hurdle because I do not have the original V5 document which was surrendered when getting its Zulassung here.

I usually do the tax at the post office to get a receipt, but after reports of difficulties with new mot exemption forms I tried an on line tax for my Land Rover. I thought this might be problematic because the 1964 landy wasn’t registered until 1983 but to my surprise and delight it was all plain sailing. Wonders will never cease!