No insurance, tax, MOT or licence for 40 years

ripplyuk

@oscarward Was it a brand new Range Rover? That’s a lot of cash to be carrying about! I don’t think it would be allowed today, in case of money laundering issues. 

Aretnap

MouldyOldDough said:

Aretnap said:

user1977 said:

Had she started driving after tests were introduced? (1935) My gran never had to pass a test (I think you could tell from the standard of her driving...)

They were introduced in 1935 but stopped again during the war, so it was possible to get a full licence without passing a test as late as 1947.

Did they backdate the requirement for a licence though?

No. Licences were required from 1903 but prior to 1935, and during the war, all you had to do to get one was to sign a form to say that you knew how to drive. The requirement to take a test was never retrospectively applied to people who already had full licences.

Scrapping the driving test sounds pretty radical now, but in 1939 they were only going back to the system as had existed four years earlier, so it would have seemed like a much less drastic step at the time.

MouldyOldDough

oscarward said:

Some years ago 70s, I temporarily worked for a Land Rover dealer. Some guy came in bought a Range Rover for cash, he argued that he didn’t have to pay road tax but dealer said it was part of the price. So guy took the car , refunded the tax disc the next day and thereafter drove car with no tax and presumably no insurance. Think he was one of the tarmac your drive types .

I believe, even today - if you have no tax, your insurance is void ....

Aretnap

MouldyOldDough said:

oscarward said:

Some years ago 70s, I temporarily worked for a Land Rover dealer. Some guy came in bought a Range Rover for cash, he argued that he didn’t have to pay road tax but dealer said it was part of the price. So guy took the car , refunded the tax disc the next day and thereafter drove car with no tax and presumably no insurance. Think he was one of the tarmac your drive types .

I believe, even today - if you have no tax, your insurance is void ....

This is an urban myth. It has not been the case for very many years, if ever.

ontheroad1970

Aretnap said:

MouldyOldDough said:

oscarward said:

Some years ago 70s, I temporarily worked for a Land Rover dealer. Some guy came in bought a Range Rover for cash, he argued that he didn’t have to pay road tax but dealer said it was part of the price. So guy took the car , refunded the tax disc the next day and thereafter drove car with no tax and presumably no insurance. Think he was one of the tarmac your drive types .

I believe, even today - if you have no tax, your insurance is void ....

This is an urban myth. It has not been the case for very many years, if ever.

Similar to the one about insurance being not valid with up to date MOT

Herzlos

ripplyuk said:

@oscarward Was it a brand new Range Rover? That’s a lot of cash to be carrying about! I don’t think it would be allowed today, in case of money laundering issues. 

Most car dealers won't take more than £7k in cash for money laundering regulations, but that was a pretty recent thing.

maxmycardagain

My dad drove HGV but never took a test, he got given his car/truck licence after demobbed in 1945 having driven a GHQ radio truck through North Africa and Italy

to quote him…"the yanks knocked the Monte Cassino monastry about a bit"

Ditzy_Mitzy

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80026679#Comment_80026679

Seven grand would have bought you three brand new Range Rovers in 1970! You'd have had enough change to buy another car, too.

We're also missing the point that if the Toledo really was 'brand new', it wouldn't have needed an MOT test and the tax angle has already been covered. The car may not have had insurance, but the police tended to be hotter on that sort of thing, back then, than they are now.

Goldenyears

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80025279#Comment_80025279

Same with my father. His experience was mainly driving an Army truck from the south of France to Northern Germany in May 1945. To get a licence in 1946 at demob he needed a reference from his CO. He believed that Merchant Navy seamen could get one without any driving experience.

Ganga

Goldenyears said:

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Same with my father. His experience was mainly driving an Army truck from the south of France to Northern Germany in May 1945. To get a licence in 1946 at demob he needed a reference from his CO. He believed that Merchant Navy seamen could get one without any driving experience.

Sounds similar to my father ,have a photo of him driving a small tank /half track and also photos of his regiment marching into Germany ,he never talked about the war BUT always claimed he never took a driving test but might not be true ,he has passed away now so cannot really find the truth now.