Vehicle owners to be granted MOT exemption

Vehicle owners will be granted a six-month exemption from MOT testing, to allow people to carry on with essential travel.

All cars, vans and motorcycles which would usually require an MOT test will be exempted from needing a test from March 30. Legislation will come into immediate effect for 12 months from this date.

Vehicles must be kept in a roadworthy condition, and garages will remain open for essential repair work. Drivers can be prosecuted for driving unsafe vehicles.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said:

“We must ensure those on the frontline of helping the nation combat COVID-19 are able to do so.

“Allowing this temporary exemption from vehicle testing will enable vital services such as deliveries to continue, frontline workers to get to work, and people get essential food and medicine.”

Anyone who cannot get an MoT due to self-isolation, the Department for Transport is working with insurers and the police to ensure people are not unfairly penalised.

Practical driving tests and annual testing for lorries, buses and coaches have been suspended for up to three months.