DOT looks at easier Euro MoT tests
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• The Department of Transport is considering slackening vehicle maintenance and testing requirements by falling into line with less stringent European Union requirements for the MoT testing scheme.
The MoT scheme is currently under review by a joint industry/DOT working party. On the agenda is the consideration that the UK's MoT scheme, which requires new vans up to 3.5 tonnes to be tested when three years old and annually thereafter, is too stringent in the light of the Government's current deregulation drive and compared to other European countries' schemes.
The working party is considering the minimum requirement of EU law in the European Road Worthiness and Testing Directive, that new vehicles undergo the MoT after its first
four years and then biennially. However, industry sources are concerned about road safety, particularly with regard to carderived vans which tend to have high mileages.
"If the frequency of the MoT was to be reduced it would manifest itself in the nastiest possible way—if you don't have to do anything between tests, you don't," says the AA head of road safety Andrew Howard.