MOT Station/Tunnel - UK end. (1 Viewer)

Jan 13, 2014
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Leeds - Yorkshire
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Reccomendation please.

Returning to UK April and planning ahead.

My MH needs first MOT and Tax, therefore,I need to prebook into an MOT station and once the certificate is issued, tax the MH online and be legally on my way.

The MH is "Iveco" based and 8.77m so need a station that can handle it.

Can anyone reccomend a MOT station in easy reach of the Tunnel?

I have read in the press quite a lot about Number Plate recognition recently and don't want to risk picking up points on my licence.

Thanks in advance of any guidance.
 
Sep 26, 2013
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I had my MOT done last November before we came out to Spain as it was due in March 2015.

Mike

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Minxy

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Aug 22, 2007
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Reccomendation please.

Returning to UK April and planning ahead.

My MH needs first MOT and Tax, therefore,I need to prebook into an MOT station and once the certificate is issued, tax the MH online and be legally on my way.

The MH is "Iveco" based and 8.77m so need a station that can handle it.

Can anyone reccomend a MOT station in easy reach of the Tunnel?

I have read in the press quite a lot about Number Plate recognition recently and don't want to risk picking up points on my licence.

Thanks in advance of any guidance.
I'm a little bit 'confused' by your request ... will your van be OVER 3 years old BEFORE you return to the UK? Are you also saying that your tax will have run out whilst you're abroad too? If so then you might have problems as AFAIK to use your vehicle abroad it MUST be legal for use on the roads of the country it is registered in, if you are over-due for your MOT then you won't be legal for the UK ... may also cause problems for your insurance too.

There are VNR cameras at the ports and Eurotunnel so you might get caught as not being 'legal' and fined!
 
Oct 7, 2013
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We have renewed our MOT three months early to avoid similar problems in the past. Also, by taxing the M/H for 6 months on one occasion we effectively shifted the renewal date away from the periods we are abroad.

Insurance we renew on-line, after researching costs via the Internet.

With ANPR becoming more prevalent it is not worth risking getting caught. Apart from the cost of any fine insurance costs might also increase because of the infringement.

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PJGWiltshire

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Mar 11, 2013
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No MOT is a fine and no points on licence. If your vehicle has pre booked appointment you can drive directly to the test centre. So in your case the route direct from Tunnel to MOT shop would be a defence
 
Oct 7, 2013
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No MOT is a fine and no points on licence. If your vehicle has pre booked appointment you can drive directly to the test centre. So in your case the route direct from Tunnel to MOT shop would be a defence
You would need a sympathetic policeman to accept that that was your most convenient MOT station.

Methinks on my next trip to the Scottish highlands I will book an MOT in Aberdeen. Would that make me legal if I leave South Wales with an expired MOT? I doubt it.:rolleyes:
 

Bertie Bassett

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Jul 25, 2014
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Be aware that your vrn will be clocked by the ANPR cams in the British bit at the Calais end of the tunnel.

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Pat4Neil

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Sep 28, 2008
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Fantastic family company, can handle up to RV size. You can park outside if you turn up early or the night before.
I've used them several times and they are really friendly and do a sensible MOT.

You will need to book, 30 mins Max from tunnel

Hope this helps

Neil
 

Minxy

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Aug 22, 2007
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Be aware that your vrn will be clocked by the ANPR cams in the British bit at the Calais end of the tunnel.

What I pretty much said to and hence why I was wondering about road tax as that will more than likely be flagged up and a nice big fine will follow!
 
OP
OP
Littlewheels
Jan 13, 2014
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No MOT is a fine and no points on licence. If your vehicle has pre booked appointment you can drive directly to the test centre. So in your case the route direct from Tunnel to MOT shop would be a defence

This is what I'm thinking, I have been away for over a year and the MH has been parked on my Drive, Sorned but the MOT expired ,so I book the MOT do the Journey Southern Spain - Folkstone straight to MOT station I am then legal all the way through.
 

Bertie Bassett

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Jul 25, 2014
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What I pretty much said to and hence why I was wondering about road tax as that will more than likely be flagged up and a nice big fine will follow!

Plus the hydra headed Revenue and Customs is sitting looking at the cams before you get on the train...............better doom and gloom now than the alternative on return.
 

Landy lover

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Jul 11, 2009
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With the new system you may still get 'automatic' fines - everything is done via computer now - untouched by human hand or brain and looking at some of the tricks DVLA get up to that may be a blessing !! Being computer generated you will probably have to reply to a number of automatic threating letters before a human actually reads your replies and decides you did the sensible thing.

Bear in mind also that if you have been out of the country for an extended period( check up) its either 6 or 12 months you should have 'exported' the vehicle and then reimport it.

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Judge Mental

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This is what I'm thinking, I have been away for over a year and the MH has been parked on my Drive, Sorned but the MOT expired ,so I book the MOT do the Journey Southern Spain - Folkstone straight to MOT station I am then legal all the way through.

Sorry I may be thick but the above makes no sense to me. Am I right in thinking van is here? Sorn with no mot and you think you can book a mot months in advance go on holiday and get it done on return :( ( no tax to boot)

we all know God loves a tryer and hope I'm wrong as that is a bonkers plan!lol


After reading The post below.....Have look at this:

http://www.a1-solutions-spain.com/c...og/369-getting-your-uk-car-motd-in-spain.html
 
Last edited:

Emmit

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This is what I'm thinking, I have been away for over a year and the MH has been parked on my Drive, Sorned but the MOT expired ,so I book the MOT do the Journey Southern Spain - Folkstone straight to MOT station I am then legal all the way through.


Littlewheels,

Your Avatar doesn't display where you live, (and, this isn't a criticism, the lack of comma's in the above post doesn't help, I don't know where you live)
You say you have been away for more than a year and the 'van is on your drive with an expired MOT and no Tax.

So I'm assuming (I know, makes an ass of u and me!!!) that you live down there and are going to drive home to Blighty

I'm sorry but you can't drive an untaxed and no MOT vehicle all the way back from southern Spain just for the MOT.
1. The vehicle you are driving on the Continent has to be legal in it's country of origin. I appreciate that there is provision to drive it to an MOT Station but the law was changed years ago to make it illegal for drivers to drive the length of the country with unMOT'ed??? cars. Drivers were coming down to the West Country with a car with no MOT, after arranging a Test, cancelling the Test on arrival and parking the car on a car park for the duration and doing the same to get home.

The Law is now quite clear. The MOT station has to be a reasonable distance from where the vehicle starts it's journey.
Just because the tunnel is within two hours of every Test Station in Kent doesn't mean you can appear out of the tunnel from Southern Spain and claim you haven't driven far.

I'm not saying you won't get away with it (but I'm not going to bet that you will) but don't be surprised if a long brown envelope thuds on the doorstep and you would lose if you tried to argue your corner.
 
D

Deleted member 29692

Deleted User
Irrespective of the MOT status you'll be pushing your luck to drive hundreds of miles through three countries with no tax. If you get pulled over you might get lucky with a sympathetic policeman but I doubt it if you get caught by a camera. It's the phrase "reasonable distance" thats important.

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GWAYGWAY

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Sep 6, 2014
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Mine will be due its MOT soon but the front disc are pitted so I will wait until near the time and change them, luckily tranny bits are cheap. The previous owner only seemed to use the van once a year to go abroad and back, I thought my driving around would wear the discs but no they are still pitted, even after a couple of Welsh mountains and the Lake district., MHs do not get enough use methinks but I will try and change that for this one. I might actually go to Woods at Aylesham as they are quite close to my home.
 

GWAYGWAY

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There should be a way of going abroad for a longer period without running foul of the tax law and MOT what do you do if you go overland to Australia and back, I certainly not pay road tax. and to export then you need somewhere to export to, and then bring back from , bit hard to do.
 

SandT

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Fantastic family company, can handle up to RV size. You can park outside if you turn up early or the night before.
I've used them several times and they are really friendly and do a sensible MOT.

You will need to book, 30 mins Max from tunnel

Hope this helps

Neil


We use them as well , great service and can handle any size vehicle.
We usually stay at keats farm campsite in Dover, a great site and just 15 min away.

Terry

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Emmit

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Re my previous post.

If I were you Littlewheels I would make sure that I started my journey from Spain in the same month as the one you arrive in the UK. I would also have evidence by the collecting of fuel receipts of the dates of the journey.
That way, should you be hauled in to grip the brass bar, (go to Court), you have evidence that you were only using the vehicle in the month where the tax was applied for. Again assuming that as soon as you get the thing MOT'ed, you tax it as well.
That kind of thing can count big in the land of a Magistrates Court.

You might not be going about this in a strictly legal manner but at least you can be seen to be keeping your illegality to a minimum.
 

PJGWiltshire

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No MOT is a fine and no points on licence. If your vehicle has pre booked appointment you can drive directly to the test centre. So in your case the route direct from Tunnel to MOT shop would be a defence

The point I am trying to get across is that the MH needs to arrive at the French boarder on the last day of the MOT. Entering the UK via channel the MH can drive straight to the MOT station booked as close to Folkstone even though the MOT has now expired so long as there was an appointment. Quite correctly the MH cannot be driven across the Europe with an expired MOT then get legal in the UK.
 
Mar 21, 2009
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No MOT is a fine and no points on licence. If your vehicle has pre booked appointment you can drive directly to the test centre. So in your case the route direct from Tunnel to MOT shop would be a defence
and your insurance is not valid if you do not have an mot!

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Aug 18, 2014
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and your insurance is not valid if you do not have an mot!

It isn't , it is impossible to have "no insurance" as the vehicle ,by law , always has to cover 3rd party damage regardless of what the driver gets up to.
Additionally their is no specific requirement to have an 'MOT' it just states the vehicle has " To be in a road worthy condition "
 
Aug 18, 2014
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There should be a way of going abroad for a longer period without running foul of the tax law and MOT what do you do if you go overland to Australia and back, I certainly not pay road tax. and to export then you need somewhere to export to, and then bring back from , bit hard to do.

& what most people do not realise is that when you tell them it is going to be " permanently exported" they withdraw the registration plate from use, so you now have no registration. lol:LOL:
 

Minxy

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Littlewheels,

Your Avatar doesn't display where you live, (and, this isn't a criticism, the lack of comma's in the above post doesn't help, I don't know where you live)
You say you have been away for more than a year and the 'van is on your drive with an expired MOT and no Tax.

So I'm assuming (I know, makes an ass of u and me!!!) that you live down there and are going to drive home to Blighty

I'm sorry but you can't drive an untaxed and no MOT vehicle all the way back from southern Spain just for the MOT.
1. The vehicle you are driving on the Continent has to be legal in it's country of origin. I appreciate that there is provision to drive it to an MOT Station but the law was changed years ago to make it illegal for drivers to drive the length of the country with unMOT'ed??? cars. Drivers were coming down to the West Country with a car with no MOT, after arranging a Test, cancelling the Test on arrival and parking the car on a car park for the duration and doing the same to get home.

The Law is now quite clear. The MOT station has to be a reasonable distance from where the vehicle starts it's journey.
Just because the tunnel is within two hours of every Test Station in Kent doesn't mean you can appear out of the tunnel from Southern Spain and claim you haven't driven far.

I'm not saying you won't get away with it (but I'm not going to bet that you will) but don't be surprised if a long brown envelope thuds on the doorstep and you would lose if you tried to argue your corner.
Funnily enough that is EXACTLY what I was telling my husband this morning when we were chatting about this on our way to Tesco ... great minds and all that! :)

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Minxy

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Aug 22, 2007
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Reccomendation please.

Returning to UK April and planning ahead.

My MH needs first MOT and Tax, therefore,I need to prebook into an MOT station and once the certificate is issued, tax the MH online and be legally on my way.


Okay ... my 'assumptions':

You have a motorhome that is not yet 3 years old
It's first MOT is due sometime in April
It is currently SORNed

All I can come up with is the below from which I've deduced that you CAN tax your vehicle so long a the tax comes into force BEFORE the MOT is due, probably the month before to be safe:

MOT test certificate
You must produce an MOT test certificate thats valid on the day the tax disc comes into force. An MOT certificate that expires on the last day of the month eg 30 April cant be used if the tax disc is to start on the first day of the following month eg 1 May. The certificate must be original, a photocopy is not acceptable.

http://www.findlaw.co.uk/law/motoring/vehicle_tax/9932.html
In which case AFAIK you can simply sort the tax on-line BEFORE it becomes due for an MOT - there used to be a set number of days that had to be 'left' on the MOT (or if the vehicle is under 3 years old a period of time) but I can't find it so whether that is still applicable I don't know but from the above it appears it may not be applicable now.

The problem is the MOT though because if you drive it, even with it being taxed, once the MOT is due you are in effect still not legal in the UK, so not legal abroad, and certainly not to drive it up from the bottom of Spain. The only real option, which I suspect you don't want to hear, is to come back to the UK BEFORE the MOT is due which, IMV, is what you should do!
 

Lenny HB

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It isn't , it is impossible to have "no insurance" as the vehicle ,by law , always has to cover 3rd party damage regardless of what the driver gets up to.
"

True but if you did not adhere to the terms of the policy they can reclaim any payments they made to a third party from you ' so if you injured someone in an accident & they payed out a large sum in compensation they could then re-claim hundreds of thousands from you.
 

CWH

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I can't claim any knowledge here, but if the way Funsters are interpreting your situation is correct, then I'd suggest it would be safest to 'fess up, phone DVLA and HMRC and (probably) your insurers, tell them what's happened & why (eg what you'd understood you needed to do but now think you may have been wrong???) & ask for help and advice.
We've had call to do this on occasions & found nothing but helpful support. Grovel, show remorse, play the wrinkly or blonde cards if appropriate, be grateful and follow their instructions to the letter...

If this isn't your situation then what a relief! :)

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