MOT
The MOT test (Ministry of Transport, or simply MOT) is an annual test of vehicle safety, roadworthiness aspects and exhaust emissions required in the United Kingdom for most vehicles over three years old used on any way defined as a road in the Road Traffic Act 1988; it does not apply only to highways (or in Scotland a relevant road) but includes other places available for public use, which are not highways. In Northern Ireland the equivalent requirement applies after four years The requirement does not apply to vehicles used only on various small islands with no convenient connection "to a road in any part of Great Britain"; no similar exemption is listed at the beginning of 2014 for Northern Ireland, which has a single inhabited island, Rathlin. The MOT test was first introduced in 1960 as a few basic tests of a vehicle and now covers 20 different parts or systems on or in the car.
The name derives from the Ministry of Transport, a defunct government department, which was one of several ancestors of the current Department for Transport, but is still officially used. The MOT test certificates are currently issued in Great Britain under the auspices of the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) (formed as a result of the merger between the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) and the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA)), an executive agency of the Department for Transport, and before 1 April 2014 by VOSA. Certificates in Northern Ireland are issued by the Driver and Vehicle Agency (DVA). The test and the pass certificate are often referred to simply as the "MOT".
About 20,100 local car repair garages throughout Great Britain, employing about 53,000 testers, are authorised to perform testing and to issue certificates. In principle, any individual in Great Britain can apply to run a MOT station, although in order to gain an authorisation from DVSA, both the individual wanting to run the station, as well as the premises, need to meet minimal criteria set out on the government's website within the so-called VT01 form.
In Northern Ireland tests are performed exclusively at the DVA's own test centres, although currently there is an open project investigating bringing Northern Ireland into line with the rest of the United Kingdom.
The MOT test was first introduced in 1960 under the direction of the-then Minister of Transport, Ernest Marples, under powers in the Road Traffic Act 1956. The test was originally a basic test including brakes, lights and steering check which was to be carried out after the vehicle was ten years old and every year thereafter. This became known as the "ten year test", or alternatively the "Ministry of Transport Test". A fee is applicable to the test and the amount involved for a car when testing was first introduced in 1960 was fourteen shillings (70 new (decimal) pence) plus one shilling (5 new pence) for the certificate. The high failure rate resulted in the age that vehicles became due for testing being reduced to seven years on 31 December 1961. In 1962, the first commercial vehicle exam was created and a valid certificate was required in order to receive a tax disc, and in April 1967, the testable age for an MOT was reduced to three years. On 1 January 1983, the testable age for ambulances, taxis and vehicles with more than eight passenger seats; excluding the driver's, was reduced to one year.
The list of items tested has been continually expanded over the years, including:
1968 – a tyre check
1977 – checks of windscreen wipers and washers, indicators, brake lights, horns, exhaust system and condition of the body structure and chassis
1991 – checks of the emissions test for petrol engine vehicles, together with checks on the anti-lock braking system, rear wheel bearings, rear wheel steering (where appropriate) and rear seat belts
1992 – a stricter tyre tread depth requirement for most vehicles
1994 – a check of emissions for diesel engine vehicles
2005 – introduction of a computerised administration system for issuing non-secure test certificates, and the creation of the 'Automated Test Bay' which differed from traditional testing by installing equipment in the bay to obviate the need for a tester's assistant during the test
2012 – checks of secondary restraint systems, battery and wiring, electronic stability control (ESC), speedometers and steering locks.
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