Taxed, insured, no MOT

elsien

A neighbour’s car has been immobile outside my house now for a couple of months. He told me a while ago that it failed the MOT and it’s slowly sitting there deteriorating, flat tyres etc. I cannot get to speak to the neighbour whatever time of day I try although he is still living there. And no response to the letter I put through the door asking if we could have a chat sometime.

Taxed and insured till March.
I completely accept anyone’s right to park anywhere on the street  - I’m not precious about the space outside the front of my house because parking spaces around here are too limited so everyone just parks where they can.

But it’s annoying when a handy nearby parking space is being taken up by a slowly rusting and falling apart heap of junk. 

Is there any recourse for reporting it or does the fact that it is taxed and insured mean there’s nothing I can do about it?

Glad

No, he can't park on the road without a valid MOT, unless he has an MOT booked and will be driving the car only to that appt
You can report him, maybe call your local town hall and ask advice there

Car_54

Glad said:

No, he can't park on the road without a valid MOT, unless he has an MOT booked and will be driving the car only to that appt
You can report him, maybe call your local town hall and ask advice there

Why? It's the police who are responsible for criminal matters.

sevenhills

Glad said:

No, he can't park on the road without a valid MOT, unless he has an MOT booked and will be driving the car only to that appt
You can report him, maybe call your local town hall and ask advice there

He can park on the road with no MOT, the police will not be interested unless it is being driven.

That is my experience.

TooManyPoints

No, he can't park on the road without a valid MOT, unless he has an MOT booked and will be driving the car only to that appt

There are three terms used in connection with vehicles and road traffic law: "keeping", "using" and "driving". None are defined in legislation and if an allegation is contested it is up to a court to determine whether a law has been broken.

The legislation covering MoT test requirements for cars (Section 47 of the Road Traffic Act) makes it an offence to "use" a motor vehicle without a valid test certificate. Clearly "using" requires more activity that merely "keeping" but less than "driving". I cannot imagine a court deciding that the vehicle described in this question is being "used" and that could explain why the police are reluctant to become involved with enforcement on vehicles with no valid MoT that are simply parked.

Nobbie1967

sevenhills said:

Glad said:

No, he can't park on the road without a valid MOT, unless he has an MOT booked and will be driving the car only to that appt
You can report him, maybe call your local town hall and ask advice there

He can park on the road with no MOT, the police will not be interested unless it is being driven.

That is my experience.

My experience is of having a policeman knock on the door to tell me my car parked around the corner had an expired MOT. I was awaiting parts to repair for MOT. Clearly someone reported it as they wouldn’t just randomly go around checking cars. TBF, it was just words of advice and no fine followed.

elsien

The police round here are too busy to care about the regular parking on double yellows or parking on and blocking the pavement. Really can’t see them getting exercised about an MOT for a parked car. I was wondering more if I could argue the car was dumped.
Looks like I’m stuck with it till the tax expires then. 

Thanks all. 

HillStreetBlues

Check your local council, some aren't interested if it's taxed, some are depending if it unroadworthy.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/abandoned-vehicles-council-responsibilities

Decide if a vehicle is abandoned

Authorities must decide if a vehicle is abandoned. This is likely if at least one of the following applies:

• it has no keeper on DVLA’s database and is untaxed - check vehicle tax online
• it’s stationary for a significant amount of time
• it’s significantly damaged, run down or unroadworthy, for example has flat tyres, missing wheels or broken windows
• it’s burned out
• a number plate is missing

They can legally enter land (at a reasonable time) to investigate and remove abandoned vehicles.

user1977

elsien said:

But it’s annoying when a handy nearby parking space is being taken up by a slowly rusting and falling apart heap of junk. 

Would you be happier if it had an MOT, but was still just sitting there?

If there is a general difficulty with a lack of parking spaces, you want to lobby your council to introduce restrictions of some sort.

elsien

There is already a permit parking scheme in place. Although he doesn’t have a permit because he stuck his mum’s disabled badge in there to save paying for the permit (mum lives elsewhere). 

And when he is using the car it’s not just sitting there all the time. It was moved around a variety of places on this street and the next same as the rest of us. 

HillStreetBlues

user1977 said:

elsien said:

But it’s annoying when a handy nearby parking space is being taken up by a slowly rusting and falling apart heap of junk. 

Would you be happier if it had an MOT, but was still just sitting there?

If there is a general difficulty with a lack of parking spaces, you want to lobby your council to introduce restrictions of some sort.

But it could be a extra car, can't use it so bought another one.