MOT-style test ‘would get a lot of rubbish off the roads’

Concerns that islanders will need some form of safety certificate to drive in Europe post-Brexit were raised in the States last month when Deputy Jan Kuttelwascher asked P&R vice-president Lyndon Trott about the issue of bringing in an MOT test here.

Deputy Trott replied that Environment & Infrastructure was looking into ‘matters of that type’ to ensure the island complied with EU regulations.

According to figures supplied by Guernsey Waste, in the six months from October last year to the end of March, 318 vehicles were scrapped after going through the end-of-life vehicle scheme.

This did not include those delivered straight to the scrapyard and paid for by the owners.

Barras Car Centre sales director Paul Guilmoto has worked in the motor trade for 27 years.

‘This MOT issue has been mentioned to the States and talked about at the Guernsey Motor Trades Association for the last 20 years or so,’ he said.

‘We’ve got to have it because, as of sometime this year, you won’t be able to take your car away to France without a certificate.’

The centre accepts part-exchange vehicles in any condition and carries out repairs if necessary to make them fit for resale, but sometimes they were not suitable for the roads.

‘I would say that there are about 20 a year that we can’t sell or have to sell them for spares,’ said Mr Guilmoto.

Even if an MOT-style test was in place he said people would still want money for their unroadworthy old cars. ‘But if we had it it would get a lot of rubbish off the roads.’

Doyle Motors general manager Jeremy Rees said that an MOT-style test would also attract more service work.

‘From the garages point of view, it’s a good idea,’ he said.

The garage did not repair older cars it received in part-exchange, but sold them as they were.

‘We make it roadworthy and sell it cheap,’ he said.

‘What would happen if you had an MOT on the island is people will have cars who fail and they will just go and change it.’

The situation with unroadworthy cars is the same in Jersey, said Jonathan Bell, general manager of Trust Ford in the Channel Islands.

With his role being pan-island, he has seen the condition of cars in both places – on one occasion he came across a van with a piece of wood bolted in place of the driver’s door window.

Last year alone he said the Guernsey branch had to send 40 vehicles to be scrapped, while Jersey dumped 52.

He said that while these vehicles might be considered safe because of the islands’ low speed limits, an accident at any speed caused by a vehicle fault is dangerous.

‘If customers take poorly maintained vehicles to the UK mainland or France and try to drive at higher speeds on motorways, they are putting themselves at even higher risk,’ said Mr Bell.

‘MOT tests would help avoid this, encourage better care and earlier detection of problems, which could save lives.’

He would favour the introduction of States-operated MOT tests.

‘The MOT test in the UK probably takes about an hour and 15 minutes. Having seen what they do there I don’t think it would be too onerous to have it here,’ he said.

Jersey brought in MOT-style tests for commercial vehicles at the start of this year, and Mr Bell thinks it would make sense for private vehicles to be subject to a similar test.

‘It would improve the standard of all vehicles in the island,’ he said.