£100 fine for no Mot.....worth taking to court???

dee68

I'm looking for some advice as to whether I should go to court to appeal against £100 fine for no mot...I got stopped by police on a Saturday afternoon and had no idea it had expired 10 days previously....luckily I got it booked in at 8am on Monday morning and it passed....it know it shouldn't have let it run out but £100 is a big extreme!! Does anyone know if it's worth going to court and just pleading ignorance and it got sorted at earliest opportunity!??

Quentin

Ignorance is not a defence!


Take this to pepipoo to have this confirmed.


(You probably need to cut back on luxuries this week!!)

bod1467

Pepipoo is probably the best place for this. My opinion (from a basis of no knowledge) is that you're "bang to rights" and have no defence ... letting the MOT expire is an absolute offence (I believe) against which there are rarely any mitigating circumstances accepted.

If you let this go to court it'll likely cost you far more than £100.

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=5

pogofish

TBH, it is pretty difficult to challenge a no-MOT fine. This is an absolute offence and your range of defence is very limited.

In this case it may well be better to pay-up and look sweet about it as it could well cost you much more if you go to court.

shaun_from_Africa

When you think that the maximum fine that a court can impose is £1000 (plus a victims surcharge of up to £100), is it really worth risking it in order to get the fine reduced?
I know that it would be extremely unlikely for the fine to be increased to anywhere near the maximum permitted, but if the court decides that you are wasting their time, they might just decide to increase rather than lower it.

fisherjim

"Does anyone know if it's worth going to court and just pleading ignorance"

If that is your defence I wouldn't waste your time!

beamerguy

dee68 wrote: »

I'm looking for some advice as to whether I should go to court to appeal against £100 fine for no mot...I got stopped by police on a Saturday afternoon and had no idea it had expired 10 days previously....luckily I got it booked in at 8am on Monday morning and it passed....it know it shouldn't have let it run out but £100 is a big extreme!! Does anyone know if it's worth going to court and just pleading ignorance and it got sorted at earliest opportunity!??

Courts do not accept ignorance, couple that with no MOT your insurance is invalid, must be roadworthy.
Pay your fine with a lesson learned, if you drive with no MOT, meaning not insured, and you hit someone and kill them, it probably means prison for you.
£100 is peanuts for breaking the law .... the car is your responsibility, be responsible in future

pappa_golf

beamerguy wrote: »

Courts do not accept ignorance, couple that with no MOT your insurance is invalid, must be roadworthy.
Pay your fine with a lesson learned, if you drive with no MOT, meaning not insured, and you hit someone and kill them, it probably means prison for you.
£100 is peanuts for breaking the law .... the car is your responsibility, be responsible in future

rubbish!


a: a new car under 3 yrs old has not got an MOT


b: you are allowed to drive to an MOT station , without an MOT


c: an MOT is not proof that the car is roadworthy , its a statement that on the day it was presented for a test , it was fit to pass one


a insurance co can reduce payout if after an accident (with no MOT) serious faults are observed.

tripled

beamerguy wrote: »

couple that with no MOT your insurance is invalid

Here we go again

pogofish

beamerguy wrote: »

couple that with no MOT your insurance is invalid, must be roadworthy.

Bit of a myth that one. FSA ruled some considerable time ago that no-MOT would not affect your Road Traffic Act level cover. The full details are in past threads here if you want to search.

However, above RTA level, no MOT may well affect your overall/additional cover - which could mean the insurer voiding or reducing any payment or attempting to recover costs off you. You would need to go through the small print carefully to find what applies on your policy as it varies by individual company.

DUTR

dee68 wrote: »

I'm looking for some advice as to whether I should go to court to appeal against £100 fine for no mot...I got stopped by police on a Saturday afternoon and had no idea it had expired 10 days previously....luckily I got it booked in at 8am on Monday morning and it passed....it know it shouldn't have let it run out but £100 is a big extreme!! Does anyone know if it's worth going to court and just pleading ignorance and it got sorted at earliest opportunity!??

What level do you think the fine should have been?