DVLA: now it’s an MoT glitch

Agency systems exempt post-1960 classics from test

Some post-1960 classics are being inadvertently classed as MoT-exempt on the DVLA’s computer systems.

Anthony Jackson, who runs Merseyside-based classic specialist Parkhill Garage, discovered that his Humber Hawk and Austin Mini Seven are both classed by the registration agency’s vehicle enquiries website as being exempt from MoT testing, despite both being recorded as 1961 models. Both have been off the road for a decade.

Anthony says: ‘According to the DVLA’s vehicle enquiries website, both of these cars are MoT exempt. It’s very unlikely they would have been manufactured before 1960 and then sat around for 18 months before they’d been registered.

‘In theory all I’d need to do to take either of them out on to the public road is to get them running. It would make more sense for the DVLA to say that the cars are not MoT-exempt unless you, as the owner, can prove otherwise.’

Cars manufactured before 1 January 1960 have been exempt from MoT testing since 2012. Later classics are still required to undergo annual tests, though the Department for Transport has consulted the public on how this might change (2016 News Review, page 6).

The DVLA says: ‘We’d like to thank CCW for bringing this error to our attention. We are working to resolve the issue to ensure that the correct information is displayed.’

Only the very earliest Minis are exempt from MoT testing, but later cars are being described as such by the DVLA.