Son Arrested Again!!

[Smowball]

Seriously he will be the death of me. He was only released from prison in January. I found out last month that he was driving with no MOT. He promised me he would sort it that day. He didn’t. I drove to see him and nagged and nagged him and he said that it would fail anyway, but his insurance was still valid (erm don’t think so). His sister told him the same yesterday. She’s now had a call from a friend of him saying he’s been arrested for no MOT and is at police station. But surely they don’t arrest and hold you just for that?? I could throttle him!

[Buenchico]

Driving without a vehicle without a valid MOT certificate is a non-endorsable (and, to the best of my knowledge, non-arrrestable) offence, which is usually dealt with by a £100 fixed penalty.

If your son is still on licence after his release from prison he can theoretically be recalled to prison for committing any offence, which might explain why he's being held by the police (while they check to see if he'll be recalled), but I can't see that happening just for driving without an MOT. It's probably more likely that he's been arrested for another offence (such as drink-driving or, if he's into drugs, for possession of them).

There have neen many conflicting posts on AB about whether or not driving without a valid MOT can invalidate insurance. My own understanding though is that, as far as the third-party cover required by law is concerned, the insurance remains valid.

[ummmm]

I always was lead to believe the insurance was still valid.

[Smowball]

He doesn’t really drink alcohol, but I know he smokes weed. (To my shame). Am I right in assuming that if he had no MOT then surely he also has no tax??

[Cloverjo]

I thought that if you apply for tax online they check that you have valid MOT and insurance.

[nailit]

Blimey Smow. Kids eh?
Give me a ring/text or FB if you want to. xx

[jennyjoan]

If your car has failed the MOT test then even if he thinks he has insurance - he is simply not insured. Insurance company would not touch him with a bargepole.

[Buenchico]

>>> Am I right in assuming that if he had no MOT then surely he also has no tax?

You need a valid MOT certificate to tax a vehicle but it doesn't need to be valid throughout the whole period that the vehicle will be taxed.

For example, if your son had taxed the vehicle for 6 months in January he would have needed a valid MOT certificate on the day that he got the tax. So he'd then have the vehicle correctly taxed until the end of June, even if the MOT certificate he'd used to get that tax ran out a day ot two afterwards.

[Smowball]

So sorry everyone - my internet went!

[ummmm]

Wrong Jenny!

[Smowball]

So all I have further found out is that he didn’t realise the MOT had ran out until he went to the Post Office to re ew the tax, and the clerk pointed it out, (this is what he says anyway!) so I am assuming he has no tax either

[waterboatman]

Sorry to see that smow. Just messaged you. xxx

[Hopkirk]

There's more that he isn't telling you

[Smowball]

Exactly - there has to be more to it, but don’t know how I’m going to find out.

[EDDIE51]

If he is known to the police as a drug user or previous motoring offender , his car number plate will be on the police database as 'of interest'. This means it will flag up with an alert every time a police car with ANPR sees it. So the alert is enough reason for the police to stop him for questioning. That is probably why he was stopped in the first place

[ummmm]

Is he out? x

[Hopkirk]

You don't get arrested for no tax, MOT or insurance, unless you headbutt plod.

[EDDIE51]

^ Happened to me. I unknowingly bought a 2nd hand car from a man who had convictions for receiving stolen goods. I used to get stopped EVERY time I saw a police car,often more than once a day. The funny thing was the police only ever wanted to look in the boot.Eventually a policeman told me that my car was registered as 'of interest' due to its previous owner. He promised to get it removed once I had proved that I was the new owner. He must have done it as I didn't get stopped again.

[Smowball]

Nobody has heard anything since the friend rang my daughter to say he’d been arrested . I’ll wait till at least 9 and then start making some phone calls...

[Prudie]

In this situation why wait until 9? Obviously you have tried to call him?

[New Judge]

"If your car has failed the MOT test then even if he thinks he has insurance - he is simply not insured."

Not correct. It's been covered many times here.