Failed MOT - Dangerous fault - now fixed- Old MOT still in date

sevenhills

facade said:

Low brake pads is a technicality.

For MOT purposes they are a fail

Quite often an advisory, but it was a fail, so it must have been really bad., I guess only the MOT tester can say.

Car_54

A defence along the lines Facade suggests might succeed, though the existence of a documented dangerous fault seems a pretty powerful argument. The problem with such a defence is the need for expert witness testimony - probably on both sides - so if the argument fails the cost to the defendant would be in the thousands.

Bigwheels1111

My friend was a mot tester in the highlands of Scotland.
The ministry sent in a car to make sure he was providing legitimate mot’s.
He failed the car as front brake pads were very very low.
After the test the ministry man came in and demanded to know why the car had failed.
He said the man who brought the car in had said he lived 80 miles away a just realised his mot was running out.
As his journey home would involve multiple hills and breaking I thought the brakes would fail before he got home,
so for safety I failed the car. For this he got punished and points on his mot license.

Just proves you can’t win either way. Tester or public.

daivid

facade said:

charlie71 said:

Yep.  Am in agreement that it shouldn't have been driven away after the test.  Was a bit weird when he told me to take it to get some new pads somewhere and bring it back for a retest, without giving me a quote to do them there.  

Luckily I guess it was less than a total of 10 minutes of driving to both home, and the place that sorted the issue the next day.  

Low brake pads is a technicality.

For MOT purposes they are a fail, as despite the oft repeated claim that the MOT is only a snapshot of what the car is like today, right now, this instant, it actually has a sensible bit of seeing into the future, so there has to be enough left in the brake pads for a few months driving.

They don't suddenly stop working, or make a car liable to total brake failure and exploding in a ball of flames when it goes off a cliff at any second like the tabloids claim- it took them many thousands of miles to go from 10mm or so to 1.5mm, they aren't going to nothing in the next couple of miles to Kwikfit.

Agreed, my car failed its last MOT on worn pads - they were right down and needed replacement so no arguments. The car had however passed the braking test and there had been no discernible difference in braking performance in the lead up to the test. How many miles it would have been before disks were damaged or braking deteriorated I've no idea.

charlie71

I didn't think my simple question would cause so much discussion. 

For further info I guess - The MOT guy said that there was slightly less than 1.5mm left on them - He showed me whilst he was carrying out the test. The post above this one has reminded me that my car also passed the braking test with no issues during the test.

Grey_Critic

GrumpyDil said:

Yes. The old MOT is still valid. 

It is interesting that even with a dodgy MOT you are still legal. We had a equest from the ministry to use our facilities to check a vehicle. Someone had bought a car from a garage and within a couple of days realised it was not right It had a brand new MOT so he contcted the ministry and they were checking it out.

The car was a death trap but he was allowed to drive it away as it had a current MOT even though the car should never have passed the test. The owner was taking legal action against the garage that sold it and the ministry were visiting the garage.

facade

charlie71 said:

I didn't think my simple question would cause so much discussion. 

For further info I guess - The MOT guy said that there was slightly less than 1.5mm left on them - He showed me whilst he was carrying out the test. The post above this one has reminded me that my car also passed the braking test with no issues during the test.

We like to debate things here, even though you had your answer in the first reply, and it doesn't matter as you've sensibly had new pads fitted and weren't stopped by the Police. I suppose you never know if it will help someone else in the future...

1.5mm is the threshold for "dangerous" in the test criteria, down to the wear marker is a "major".

 

Car_54

Grey_Critic said:

GrumpyDil said:

Yes. The old MOT is still valid. 

It is interesting that even with a dodgy MOT you are still legal. We had a equest from the ministry to use our facilities to check a vehicle. Someone had bought a car from a garage and within a couple of days realised it was not right It had a brand new MOT so he contcted the ministry and they were checking it out.

The car was a death trap but he was allowed to drive it away as it had a current MOT even though the car should never have passed the test. The owner was taking legal action against the garage that sold it and the ministry were visiting the garage.

You are always allowed to drive it away. The tester can only advise, he can’t stop you.