‘DROP MoT FOR ALL HISTORIC VEHICLES’

That’s what MP heading up Westminster all-party classics group is calling for

Cars should be exempted from the MoT as well as road tax when they reach 40 years old, the head of the classic world’s voice in Westminster says. Sir Greg Knight MP argues that the current system creates ‘two classes of historic vehicle’ and is urging the Government to reconsider. ‘All vehicles manufactured 40 years ago should be exempt from both Vehicle Excise Duty and MoT as part of the historic vehicle classification. Both dates should be a rolling exemption.’

The Department for Transport is considering exempting Historic Vehicles from roadworthiness tests when the European Roadworthiness Directive – which effectively replaces the MoT – is brought into UK law in 2018.

The MP who heads up the classic world’s voice in Westminster has called for road tax-exempt classics to be exempted from MoT tests too.

Sir Greg Knight, who chairs the All Party Parliamentary Historic Vehicles Group, says he’d like to see cars being spared both road tax and annual roadworthiness tests when they reach 40 years old.

‘There are two different date classes of historic vehicle. Those that are both taxand MoT-exempt manufactured before 1960 and those that have to undergo a modern MoT but are nevertheless exempt from Vehicle Excise Duty and which were made 40 years ago, which is a rolling exemption. I see no reason for this distinction and am urging the government to merge the two dates. I believe that all vehicles manufactured 40 years ago should be exempt from both Vehicle Excise Duty and MoT as part of the historic vehicle classification and that both dates should be a rolling exemption.’

The government has already proposed exempting tax-exempt vehicles from roadworthiness tests – as it’s done with pre-1960 classics – when it implements the EU’s Roadworthiness Directive into UK law in two years’ time. The Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs also supports the idea, saying it would be better than older vehicles being legislated off the roads because they can’t meet whatever test replaces the MoT. The Department for Transport has been due to launch a consultation on the idea since last Christmas – and last month it refused to say whether the 23 June referendum on the UK’s EU membership was behind the delay.

Friendly inspections

The Classic Aware campaign – promoting the importance of having classic vehicles checked and maintained on a regular basis – says it is still working to make sure classics are given safety inspections if the MoT system is replaced by a new roadworthiness test in 2018.

Chester-based classic specialist John Woods says: ‘If the MoT is done away it

should be replaced with some sort of mandatory test for safety reasons, even if it isn’t the same format as the current test is. Under the Classic Friendly inspection scheme it’s good to see we are getting owners bringing their cars in year after year to get them inspected, but we can’t “fail” them in the same way you can with an MoT. It will only take one incident of a classic being involved in an accident to open the floodgates.’