Is this legal

pothole50

A few doors down the neighbours son has moved his car out the drive and into the road to repair it, I know for a fact it has no MOT or Tax but is insured. He has the front wheels off the ground on axle stands, hes a nice pleasant lad and I would not want him to get into trouble, but he seems to think or has been informed that its legal as long as the driving wheels are not touching the road is this correct.

BeenThroughItAll

He's talking !!!!!!!!. If it's on the road, it should be taxed and MOTd unless being driven to a pre poked MOT test, or being taken away from a test centre for repair.

Wig

**The Definitive Answer** (I hope)

No, he is not correct.
*VED = Road Tax

First I will define the word "Road":

• Definition of "road" (for the purposes of VED) = a road maintained at public expense.
• Definition of "road" (for the purposes of Insurance and MOT) = a road to which the public have access.

If the car is in contact with the road (as defined above)....via any of the wheels or axle stands.... (Axle stands meaning proper stands or bricks or blocks of wood etc) then he is required to have the relevant cover/documents depending on what type of road it is.

For a private road not open to access from the public, he is not required to have any of the 3.

For a road not maintained at public expense but is otherwise open to access from the public he required to have 2 out of 3
Insurance & MOT

For a Public Road, maintained at public expense, he is required to have all 3
Insurance, MOT & VED

If it is NOT on a road but it is in a Public Place (a place to which the public have access) then he will need 1 out of 3
Insurance

*It has been ruled by the courts that a "Car Park" is not a road, so it only falls to be determined, whether the car park is a public place, if it is, then Insurance is required, but not MOT or VED.

In any event, the vehicle cannot be seized under S165A as it is not being "driven".

The DVLA can clamp him and seize the vehicle if it is a VED offence.. The DVLA will require all the VED to become payable from the date it was declared SORN, and they will also impose a penalty of substantial amount. The longer it has been SORNed the higher the amount will be, can be a thousand pounds or more.

He can be given a Notice of Intended Prosecution for the offence of "No Insurance" or "No MOT".

From this point onwards is where my knowledge becomes limited:

I think the Council can remove the vehicle under "Abandonned Vehicles" but not sure how that would happen as it is clearly owned and wanted.

The Police can remove it if it comes under "dangerous condition" or "likely to attract crime"

If the car is not "on the road" because it is "on a trailer", then the trailer must be hitched to a vehicle which has all the required Insurance, MOT, VED etc... The car (on the road) and trailer must both be in roadworthy condition.

If it is on a trailer that is not hitched to a valid vehicle then it becomes an offense of a trailer being left to stand on the highway. Not a VED or MOT offence and maybe not an Insurance offence either.

For further discussion:
It just occured to me that if you have your car on your own driveway there is implied access to members of the public unless it has a locked gate, anyone wishing to knock on your door for example. I wonder if this could be taken as a "public place" for Insurance? supermarket car parks are public places even though they are private property.

khcomp

Parked anywhere other than private land, in whatever condition, it MUST be insured, have current tax & an MOT... simple.

Justice13075

You have two choices put up with it or report it. Simple

Mojisola

pothole50 wrote: »

A few doors down the neighbours son has moved his car out the drive and into the road to repair it, I know for a fact it has no MOT or Tax but is insured. He has the front wheels off the ground on axle stands, hes a nice pleasant lad and I would not want him to get into trouble, but he seems to think or has been informed that its legal as long as the driving wheels are not touching the road is this correct.

Justice13075 wrote: »

You have two choices put up with it or report it. Simple

Third choice - tell the lad what the law really is so that he can move the car before someone else reports it.

Wig

Print this page and show it to him.

Silver-Surfer_2

khcomp wrote: »

Parked anywhere other than private land, in whatever condition, it MUST be insured, have current tax & an MOT... simple.

That's not correct. It only needs mot to be on a road, it can be in a public place without one.

Silver-Surfer_2

Wig wrote: »

**The Definitive Answer** (I hope)

No, he is not correct.
*VED = Road Tax

First I will define the word "Road":

• Definition of "road" (for the purposes of VED) = a road maintained at public expense.
• Definition of "road" (for the purposes of Insurance and MOT) = a road to which the public have access.

If the car is in contact with the road (as defined above)....via any of the wheels or axle stands.... (Axle stands meaning proper stands or bricks or blocks of wood etc) then he is required to have the relevant cover/documents depending on what type of road it is.

For a private road not open to access from the public, he is not required to have any of the 3.

For a road not maintained at public expense but is otherwise open to access from the public he required to have 2 out of 3
Insurance & MOT

For a Public Road, maintained at public expense, he is required to have all 3
Insurance, MOT & VED

If it is NOT on a road but it is in a Public Place (a place to which the public have access) then he will need 1 out of 3
Insurance

*It has been ruled by the courts that a "Car Park" is not a road, so it only falls to be determined, whether the car park is a public place, if it is, then Insurance is required, but not MOT or VED.

In any event, the vehicle cannot be seized under S165A as it is not being "driven".

The DVLA can clamp him and seize the vehicle if it is a VED offence.. The DVLA will require all the VED to become payable from the date it was declared SORN, and they will also impose a penalty of substantial amount. The longer it has been SORNed the higher the amount will be, can be a thousand pounds or more.

He can be given a Notice of Intended Prosecution for the offence of "No Insurance" or "No MOT".

From this point onwards is where my knowledge becomes limited:

I think the Council can remove the vehicle under "Abandonned Vehicles" but not sure how that would happen as it is clearly owned and wanted.

The Police can remove it if it comes under "dangerous condition" or "likely to attract crime"

If the car is not "on the road" because it is "on a trailer", then the trailer must be hitched to a vehicle which has all the required Insurance, MOT, VED etc... The car (on the road) and trailer must both be in roadworthy condition.

If it is on a trailer that is not hitched to a valid vehicle then it becomes an offense of a trailer being left to stand on the highway. Not a VED or MOT offence and maybe not an Insurance offence either.

For further discussion:
It just occured to me that if you have your car on your own driveway there is implied access to members of the public unless it has a locked gate, anyone wishing to knock on your door for example. I wonder if this could be taken as a "public place" for Insurance? supermarket car parks are public places even though they are private property.

And that is where you're wrong.

Rover_Driver

Wig wrote: »

For further discussion:
It just occured to me that if you have your car on your own driveway there is implied access to members of the public unless it has a locked gate, anyone wishing to knock on your door for example. I wonder if this could be taken as a "public place" for Insurance?

It would not be considered to be a public place as there would not be implied access to members of the public, only to a person who had a reason to enter the driveway and it would be expected that you would give them authority to enter for that reason.

Wig

Silver-Surfer wrote: »

And that is where you're wrong.

I think the Council can remove the vehicle under "Abandonned Vehicles" but not sure how that would happen as it is clearly owned and wanted.
I believe they can, but it would first have to be shown to be abandonned, I'm not familiar with the legislation but I believe they have to serve a notice on the vehicle as well as taking reasonable steps to contact the keeper. They then have to wait a fixed period before removal, might be 2 weeks, might be 6 weeks.


The Police can remove it if it comes under "dangerous condition" or "likely to attract crime"
Seen this advice before on MSE any reason why you think it is wrong? Seems plausible to me.

If the car is not "on the road" because it is "on a trailer", then the trailer must be hitched to a vehicle which has all the required Insurance, MOT, VED etc... The car (on the road) and trailer must both be in roadworthy condition.

If it is on a trailer that is not hitched to a valid vehicle then it becomes an offense of a trailer being left to stand on the highway. Not a VED or MOT offence and maybe not an Insurance offence either.
Anything you see here in the 2 "trailer" paragraphs above thet you feel is wrong? All seems correct to me.