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Sammy Wilson stands by ‘absurd’ MoT remark
Thursday, 6 November 2008
enlargeEnvironment Minister Sammy Wilson yesterday refused calls to retract comments he made stating that Northern Ireland’s MoT system is absurd — despite later stating the test had “a significant impact on road safety”.
Ulster Unionist MLA Roy Beggs Jnr said Mr Wilson should publicly withdraw remarks, made last month, about the “stupidity of the rules” concerning driving without an MoT.
In October it emerged Mr Wilson was fined £40 for riding his motorbike without tax or MoT.
The minister, who has responsibility for road safety in Northern Ireland, was caught by a camera detection unit on the Newtownards Road in east Belfast — a short distance from the Stormont Parliament Buildings.
The East Antrim MP was taking his bike to a garage to have it serviced for an MoT test. After receiving the fine and being ordered to pay back-tax for the vehicle, Mr Wilson failed in a bid to have the fixed penalty dismissed.
Speaking to the Telegraph’s sister paper the Sunday Life he said it was not an oversight by him and called for a review of the law.
“I'm very annoyed with the stupidity of the rules. You can drive a vehicle if it has failed the MoT but you can't drive it to the garage before it goes through the test,” he said.
“I still think the interpretation of the law, in the eyes of most people, would seem to be absurd.”
However, the minister later told the UUP MLA for East Antrim that his department has taken many approaches to promote the law concerning the MoT test and vehicle tax.
“In his personal reply he was able to tell me that the DVA has taken a number of actions, these have included the issuing of vehicle test reminders to vehicle owners shortly before a test is due, the publication of an information leaflet on vehicle testing and its impact on road safety, and most recently, the introduction of the mandatory display of vehicle test certificates, with an associated publicity campaign,” Mr Beggs said.
“Each year we have a large number of accidents and fatalities on our roads, it would be terrible to think that some of those accidents were attributable in any way to people driving without an MoT certificate.
“The fact that the minister called the law ‘absurd’ is particularly galling.
“In the public interest I believe he should retract his comments about the ‘stupidity of the rules’ concerning driving without an MoT.”
A DoE spokeswoman told the Belfast Telegraph: “The minister stands by his comment.”
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what this article neglects to tell readers is that Mr. Wilson was "taking his bike to a garage to have it serviced for an MoT test" on a Sunday afternoon, I would like to be shown this garage that is open on Sundays just in case of any automobile emergencies in the future.
Posted by Dee | 30.03.09, 12:53 GMT
PC I totally agree with you on that one. The people who are defending his laughable actions are most likely doing so because he pledges allegiance to the same flag as them. These people aren't interested in real politics only outdated tribal politics and are prepared to give these incompetent 'politicians' a bye ball because of what tribe they belong to. And it's not just the unionist community, it's happening with nationalist communities and their inept representatives. Wake up people, these 'politicians' are holding you back.
Posted by Barry | 09.11.08, 12:46 GMT
Personally, I think that the amount of people who are defending Sammy Wilson's actions laughable. I don't have an opinion on the law itself as I am just an average joe and do not pretend to know everything that is on the statute books. You would presume, howver, that an Environment Minister who is responsible for road safety would know the law. His breaking of the law is absurd not the law that he has broken.
Posted by PC | 07.11.08, 15:41 GMT
personally I dont think the law is absurd. People abuse the mot system to find out what is wrong with their cars then get them fixed. If drivers serviced their vehicles regularly, say once a year, maybe a few days weeks before the mot date then more vehicles would be road worthy. If the vehicle fails return to the mechanic and give him hell.The way Sammy wants it just leaves it open to abuse.
Posted by coogs | 06.11.08, 21:58 GMT
The MOT system is a complete disaster as is our UK car insurance companies. All insurance policies clearly state that you are not insured if you do not have a current MOT. They do not understand that in Northern Ireland that you can drive to an MOT centre and fail an MOT. If its the last day when your current MOT expires and if you receive a failure notice, technically you are not insured to drive the car the next day or even drive home form the centre. If you fail an MOT due to defective brakes and you are involved in an accident and it is proved your brakes were to blame your insurance compay will not cover you. In England and Scotland you take your car to a garage, it is repaired and you get an MOT certificate. How many times do we go to a garage to get our car fixed for an MOT and when we take it to the MOT centre it fails. Its a complete nonsense - The Assembly should get their finger out and sort this out!
Posted by Ian | 06.11.08, 15:43 GMT
Have to say I agree with Mr Wilson on this one. As long as you pre-book your service/repairs with the garage and can prove this if asked by the Police then I believe it should be legal.
It is a strange paradox that you can drive it to a garage after the vehicle has failed its MOT to get it repaired but not beforehand.
If the average man in the street bemoans "the stupidity of the rules" no-one is going to listen, at least with the publicity of this and someone who is an MLA we may get somewhere in actually getting this reviewed and possibly amended.
Stand by your comments Mr Wilson, and Mr Beggs I hardly think it is a matter of "public interest" for these comments to be withdrawn. More a matter of public interest to highlight the issue!
Posted by Kevin | 06.11.08, 14:20 GMT
The sooner the law comes into line with the rest of the UK the better and the absurdity can end.
You drive your car your chosen garage. They run it through the MOT check, tell you if anything needs to be fixed, and they then fix and retest. Job done in a single day and visit, with the leadtime dependent on the workload of the garage, not a single testing facility that everyone has to use.
The qulaity is maintained by the garages being spot checked to ensure they pass an fail vehicles appropriately.
Posted by Mark McC | 06.11.08, 13:38 GMT
How do you get the car to the MoT centre if your Mot cert has expired?
Posted by RS | 06.11.08, 12:38 GMT
It is Roy Beggs' comments that are galling. Has Roy ever been in the position of having a car off the road for a few months and tried to get it prepared for an MOT without being forced to break the law or hire someone at great cost to transport it on a trailer to the garage to have the work done? I don't think so! I think Roy Beggs should be asked withdraw his remarks. By the way I think it is refreshing that at least some of our MLAs drive vehicles old enough to require an MOT.
Posted by Liam | 06.11.08, 11:21 GMT
Sammy is correct in that you should be able to make an appointment with a garage and then drive the vehicle to that garage without having an MOT.
I know because I was in this very predicament a few months ago.
My car had been off the road for a few months and I wanted it fixed for a family member but in the end, had to fix it myself as I could not take it on the road until going for the test. This involved lots of time and energy.
Posted by robbo | 06.11.08, 09:16 GMT