Organisations representing motorists, road safety campaigners, cyclists, small businesses, insurers and the wider motor industry have joined forces to persuade the new Transport Secretary Justine Greening to rule out a reduction in the frequency of MOT testing.

The campaign comes three weeks after Greening’s predecessor Philip Hammond confirmed to the Conservative Party conference that the Government was looking again at ways “to reduce the burden of the MOT test”.

The PRO-MOTE campaign, which has the support of groups such as Brake, the RAC, AA, Kwik Fit, Halfords, Aviva and the Retail Motor Industry Federation, has published a report entitled “Dangerous, Expensive and Unwanted: The case against reducing MOT frequency”.

The report claims that:

- If annual testing is scrapped the number of road deaths is likely to rise by more than 250 each year and serious injuries by 2,200.

- Even keeping annual tests but delaying the first test from three years to four risks an additional 35 deaths on the road every year.

- Any saving to the motorist in terms of fees resulting from the scrapping of annual MOT tests would be far outweighed by the likely increases in insurance premiums and increased repairs costs.

- 94% of drivers think the MOT Test is very (71%) or quite (23%) important to road safety.

- Up to 40,000 jobs in the MOT industry, including a large number of apprenticeships, would be at risk.

Ministers are seeking to review the existing 3-1-1 system which sees all new cars and vans being tested after three years and every year thereafter. In Opposition, the Conservative frontbench team in Parliament opposed any reduction in MOT frequency when it was raised by the previous Government in 2008.

The campaign is writing to Ministers and to all MPs urging them to oppose any move towards reducing MOT frequency. It is also urging supporters to sign an online petition via the website www.pro-mote.org.uk.
 

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