Taxi Driver Online

Who prosecutes this, precisely?

I mean, there are apparently at least one million cars driving around the UK without a valid MoT

So I'd guess this guy was quite unlucky. And not sure how he was caught out, but maybe it was a licensing thing rather than police or whatever. Or maybe an ANPR camera


York private hire driver fined for having no MOT certificate

https://www.gazetteherald.co.uk/news/26 ... rtificate/

A private hire driver drove around York for nearly a fortnight in a vehicle without a valid MOT certificate, the city’s magistrates heard.

Brett Estabrooks, 40, picked up 81 fares in the vehicle during that time according to City of York Council.

He drove his passengers on roads that included the city centre, major routes through the city and residential streets.

He now faces a court bill of more than £900.

Estabrooks, of Woolnough Avenue, Tang Hall, pleaded guilty to using a motor vehicle without a valid MOT certificate between January 23 and February 4 this year.

He works for one of the city’s main taxi and private hire firms.

He represented himself and told York magistrates that although he had received automatic reminders that he needed to take his car for an MOT test, he thought the date was wrong, believing that the purchase date was the expiry date for his current MOT certificate.

But the two were not the same and he had entered the information wrongly in his files.

His car had since passed its MOT without any issues, he said.

Magistrates fined him £160 and ordered him to pay a £64 statutory surcharge and £693 prosecution costs.

don't forget Stuart councils keep records of MOT due dates

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Well indeed, Edders, but do they all routinely check that a vehicle past its expiry date has been granted a new MoT?

In fact, back in the day they wouldn't be able to, because they could only do so by requesting to see the updated certificate - and they certainly didn't do that here, so in theory a taxi could be running around for months or even a couple of years without an MoT, because our plates can last three years

Of course, they can do it these days via the MoT database, but I'd put money on not all councils doing that...

I also recall years ago when I first read about taxi drivers taking out hire and reward policies to get the plate, and then cancelling it. (Not aware of that happening locally, but I recall reading that it wasn't really that unusual nationally).

But I recall thinking that if I cancelled my insurance after getting a new plate, then I could in theory go around for almost three years with being insured, because the council only needed to see the certificate of insurance on grant or renewal

Unless, of course, there was some mishap, or you were stopped by police, or stopped by an LO. But if I had done that I could certainly have maybe gone a year or two without being caught.

Of course, that was before ANPR, and the online insurance database and the MoT equivalent. But, as I said, I somehow doubt all councils routinely check them for compliance purposes.

And I'm not sure if ANPR cameras routinely check stuff like that anyway - maybe traffic police do, but I'm sure there's been a couple of ANPR cameras on the Tay Road Bridge for years, but I don't think they're set up to detect untaxed cars etc.

I mean, there must be dozens or even a couple of hundred cars crossing the bridge everyday without a valid MoT, untaxed, uninsured etc

Of course, I could be talking complete nonsense

But it would be interesting to know how precisely the York driver above was caught out.

Maybe the council's systems and compliance procedures meant that he could never get away with it...

...or maybe he just got unlucky with an LO stopcheck, or whatever