Would it be ok in these circumstances to drive with failed MOT when the current one is still valid?

[juldan]

My car failed MOT on Friday, as 3 out of 4 tyres need changing. The note on the certificate is “dangerous, do not drive until these faults are repaired”.
I have brought it home to have it fixed(which is allowed according to the government website) and have ordered the new tyres to be fitted on my drive tomorrow. I have not driven the car anywhere else.
Here is my dilemma. I have MOT retest booked for Tuesday afternoon and wonder if it would be ok for me to drive to work (on route) and then continue to MOT after work.
The car tyres will be fixed so I will have met the condition “do not drive until fixed”. My current MOT is still valid and when I check the vehicle MOT status it shows up on the website, but I am not sure if I can still be fined.

This.

It’s the ‘dangerous’ defect. This means that you have no MOT and can not even drive to get it fixed. They should have advised you of this when you took your car.
Quite unusual for just needing new tyres so they must have been particularly bad?

I know it’s a pain in the arse OP, and it seems like sensibly rather than legally it would be fine as your vehicle will be safe and will be travelling that distance anyway without the stop, but unfortunately I agree that going to work first would not fit the allowed driving. Ending up with a fine and points would be an even bigger pain in the arse.

Once again - there is no "allowed driving" in a vehicle which has failed a MOT on a DANGEROUS fault. None. OP should have either had the tyres replaced right away, or had her car recovered on a low-loader to have it fixed somewhere else.

To add - the MOT system changed in 2018 to put in this new category of dangerous do not drive fail.

https://mattersoftesting.blog.gov.uk/how-the-new-mot-defect-categories-will-work/

Clear that a lot of people are not up to speed with this. Yes in an ideal world the mechanic should be explaining things to drivers but it's not their responsibility to stop you driving and they have no power to seize your keys and not let you take your car. Plus they're not the ones risking points on their licence and a big fine.

This is a moot point now as the OP has already done it, illegal or not.

OP I don't think I would risk it as even though you've changed the tyres it still has a prohibition order on it. Is there any way to drop the car and then get to work?

I get you. Seems to be the go to for garages now. "We have to order them in'

Wrong. Nothing supersedes the existing MOT. As long as the dangerous faults have been fixed you can continue to drive until the expiry date of the existing one.

No @Shade17 - you are wrong.

Believe me I’m not. This same topic comes up time and again on PistonHeads. There was a period around 7-8 years ago where a fail could invalidate an existing MOT but that was reversed not long after it came in. There are two separate issues at play here. The existing MOT remains valid until original expiry, if you’re pulled over after a dangerous fail you cannot be prosecuted for no MOT. There is separate legislation which covers driving a vehicle in a dangerous condition and that’s what people are referring to when they talk about the £2.5k fine etc, this legislation applies regardless of the MOT status of the car.

So, the OP was wrong to drive the car with the tyres in the state they were in but can continue to drive once they have been replaced.

I’ve actually had the DVSA confirm this in writing to me in the past.

Thank you @Shade17 for clarifying this - I won't tell my daughter a while as I was very recently insisting she didn't drive the failed car 🙈
I guess it's sensible to get fail stuff fixed and within that I just assumed you had to - I really should check stuff I 'know' and always 'knew' (and really don't!)- before giving out bad info - apologies OP for doing so on this thread.

Who on earth doesn’t notice they have 3 unsafe tyres?! What dangerous idiots we have owning cars!

Indeed. It should be part of your weekly checks, no one should be getting to an MOT and failing on things like bald tyres and blown bulbs.

Can you get anyone else to sort daughter, eg take her to a friend's to get her to school? Then take car to MOT garage before work, go to work, collect after MOT.

Thank you very much to those who gave me constructive advice that I cannot drive to work even with fixed tyres.

As I have wrote earlier today following the advice I now have decided not to do it.

To those calling me an idiot, I am glad that I made your day better by giving you an opportunity to call me that. It must have given you a nice warm feeling inside calling a stranger on the internet an idiot. I am sure you are all perfect and have never made a mistake.
If I could turn back the clock, I would have asked a professional
to check them, instead of doing it myself.

With regards to whether it is ok or not to drive a dangerous car to have it fixed, the rules are confusing. My tester, several websites such as Ask the police, Piston Heads and Gov.uk state that you can do it. Somebody on this thread had it confirmed in writing.

With regards to whether it is ok or not to drive a dangerous car to have it fixed, the rules are confusing. My tester, several websites such as Ask the police, Piston Heads and Gov.uk state that you can do it. Somebody on this thread had it confirmed in writing.

It’s not OK to drive a car with dangerous fails to be fixed, you would fall foul of the law around driving a car in a dangerous condition. What you CAN do is drive it after those dangerous fails have been repaired as long as your existing MOT is still in date.

Thank you, you seem knowledgeable and I misunderstood what you wrote. I wish they made it clearer on their website. My tester told me it was ok to drive it for repairs, so do several websites which I mentioned.
I did check the tyres myself before MOT and thought the grooves measured over 1.6mm, turned out they didn’t.

I think if you had an accident and hurt someone you’d be personally liable as insurance would be invalid and you’d have possibly have committed a crime too by driving a car deemed dangerous. Not worth it. Ask the garage to collect it from you or ask what they usually do.

The tyres have been replaced so it is not dangerous any more. So I assume I can drive to MOT.

You are allowed by law to drive it to another MOT testing site.

You cannot drive it otherwise.

Am I missing something here.

It was illegal to drive even before the MOT if the tyres were in such a bad way that they failed the MOT as they must have been illegal anyway.

So if anything, now they've been replaced, the car is safer than it was before and is now legal, regardless of the MOT result.

@juldan You need to ask yourself how come you had three tyres that were illeagal! It’s not about any of us feeling better but tyre tread is important in poor weather conditions. Your car was unsafe but you clearly didn’t check it and now you have a go at others who have pointed out you are not a responsible car owner.

In fact worse, you are a danger to others. So next time, keep checking the tyres and every other aspect of owning a car that’s a safety issue for other road users and pedestrians. Don’t have a go at posters - and no, my car is safe, has the correct tyres and I don’t make mistakes with it or drive it in an illeagal condition. It’s you who does that. Shame on you.

Once the dangerous fails have been resolved she can continue to drive it until the date of the original MOT expiry.

You can still be committing an offence by driving an unroadworthy vehicle to an MOT test BTW

I hope this message really made your feel better about yourself.

Your car is under a prohibition notice so I would think that you can't drive it until its been MOT'd again and passed, NOT until you have new tires.

Can I drive my car if it fails its MOT?