I will be riding my bike off the ferry at Dover in the next few days…the MOT has run out as has the road tax. If it’s booked in for a MOT somewhere and I ride straight from the docks to the MOT station can I be nicked? Bike is insured and on the database and will be taxed right after the MOT----
you can get stoped, if police flag your no:plate then they will stop you
as long as you can show proof of it then you will be fine,
makt sure you got the phonenumber of the mot place on you, as they will phone em. good luck
spot on;)
Cheers guys… Do I need to use the nearest MOT station or could it be booked in London?
So…ferry ticket showing I just got to the UK and a confirmed MOT appointment on that day is what I need?
If the plate is spotted does it show tax and test details as well as insurance? (bike is on insurance database)
yer they will get all the details mate, the will not there is not tax, mot or insurance… they will check all 3 so as long as the above is adhered to and you are insured you should be fine.
whistler You don’t have to use the nearest place but you can’t rip the a*se out of the system so don’t book an MOT in Northampton (for example).
I’d have said ten miles from the docks was o.k., after that you’re pushing the boundary.
Remember that if the police think you are pushing your luck and don’t accept the reasons why you booked it in with XXX, they will do you for no insurance as well. (No MoT+no tax = no insurance.)
Oh, you’d better get the tax sorted away p.d.q. after you have the MoT. The current (quite spurious) police interpretation of the law is no tax = no insurance. Has no true legal basis (the charge is “not displaying”, a far lesser offence) but it’s now established by case law over the years due to lots of magistrates being ill informed and convicting.
Make sure your MoT booking is in the test stations diary and get the name of the person you talk to when you make the booking.
Be aware that Police also interpret no insurance as a reason to impound the vehicle there and then.
It is legal to not have tax and MOT on the road if the the sole reason for being on the road is to reach a testing station, so as has been said, as long as you don’t take the **** and pick a station within 15 minutes ride of the dock you will be fine. Dover/Deal/Folkestone is probably OK, Canterbury is probably just too far.