legalities on broken light

julie03

my oh broke the glass on his back light yesterday. we have ordered a new one . all the bulbs are ok but when he brakes its shows up clear instead of red. is it legally ok to drive especially at night as he has to pick son up at night on friday and not sure if light will arrive in time
thanks

Quentin

Showing a white light at the rear is illegal (unless you are reversing!)

You can get translucent red tape to do a temp. repair that will show a red light

dacouch

Halfords sell the coloured tape for this which costs circa £5

sebdangerfield

If stopped bu Police and as long as there were no other problems you'd probably just be given a VDRS which is (basicaly) an order to get it fixed within a set timeframe or you'll be taken to court. If there are any problems, hand signals are still applicable!

Common sense says, you'd be better to just get some tape.

Hintza

But let's not go down that route on the forum for a while yet after the last fight about lights and heavy handed polis.....:eek:

sebdangerfield

I miss him!!

rev_henry

Could just tape it over with red insulation tape. It won't be properly transparent but it will save you £5 from Halfords.

goldspanners

if you dont bother getting it fixed or taping it i would suggest removing the bulb,its very annoying sitting behind someone with this.

i sat behind a clio tonight with the rear tail light lens broken,it was really annoyingly bright.

deano19690

you can`t remove the bulb, you`ll get nicked for having a light out....

just get the red tape and get it cover with no sharp edges....

I had to do this a few years back whilst waiting for an insurance claim to go thru and i needed the mot doing, it was the mot centre wo told me what to do, i thought they were gonna fail it

goldspanners

deano19690 wrote: »

you can`t remove the bulb, you`ll get nicked for having a light out....

just get the red tape and get it cover with no sharp edges....

I had to do this a few years back whilst waiting for an insurance claim to go thru and i needed the mot doing, it was the mot centre wo told me what to do, i thought they were gonna fail it

they would already be getting nicked for having white light showing at the rear of thier car so it doesnt really matter. its just less anoying to others if the light is off.
although the tape would be the best solution until they get a new lens.

Rallydriver

I'm sure it only specifies you must have two working brake lights at the rear of the vehicle. So if you take the bulb out and you still have the other side plus the high level brake light working it shouldn't be a problem.

People shouldn't be sitting with their foot on the brake for any length of time anyway, thats what the handbrake is for.