Faded number plate - MOT Failure

[MrMT]

I took my car in for the MOT knowing it would fail at least on the missing rear exhaust silencer that dropped off due to corrosion a few months back. I consider the sub £50 charge a very reasonable inspection cost so I can gauge whether it's worth repairing the old gal (93).

 

So, it came back as failed on the exhaust (fair enough), failed on corrosion to the sills (obvious once the tester had made holes with his tool) a split driveshaft boot and a faded rear number plate.

 

I was incredulous at the last and was sure the tester was being overzealous but he did have a slight point inasmuch, due to the large amount of t-cutting and washing and polishing I've done over the months, there was a large amount of oversmearing all around the car on black plastic trim, bumpers and rear number plate but it was still perfectly readable IMO. He justified his decision by saying due to the popularity of speed cameras and ANPR cameras, the test is more stringent and being faded means the camera cannot capture the registration. When in insuated I might set off a speed camera I had to bite me tongue and leave.

 

I got the holes professionally welded, a new exhaust fitted and replaced the driveshaft boot myself and decided to clean and polish the original number plate so the tester could see it wasn't faded but oversmeared.

 

I dropped the car off at noon for the retest worrying it could still fail on the emissions, only to return half an hour later to find they did me the favour of not retesting it because he could see instantly I hadn't changed the number plate.

 

Well, I wasn't happy at all and told them so, gave them my point of view and then threatened to complain to VOSA but the tester stood his ground and added "for the sake of a fiver, £8" at which point I had to bite my tongue and stomped off to get a number plate.

 

So I googled for MOT and faded plates but could not find anything concrete inasmuch as it being an up-to-date copy. I really want to know what method and testing principles are used to decide what is a pass and what is a fail for number plate fade.

 

Can anyone advise please? I would like to ask VOSA for clarification and would welcome a second opinion.

[patdavies]

The usual problem with plates is the de-lamination of the reflective backing from the plastic plate

 

This is what the manual says under reasons for rejection:

A registration plate;

a. missing

b. so insecure that it is likely to fall off

c. letter or figure missing or incomplete

d. Faded, dirty, deteriorated or obscured, (for example by a towbar so that it is likely to be misread or is not easily legible to a person standing approximately 20 metres to the front/rear of the vehicle.

[Conniff]

Knowing that passing something that could prove to be unlawful, and that the station could lose it's license if the ministry inspector considered they were not doing their job properly, they go by an instruction in the manual.

 

That instruction says "If in doubt, fail it".

[MrMT]

Yes, the backing has delaminated to the point a few spots of the "yellow space" is encroached on at the very edges of the plate but the tester did not relate to such a fault. He made it clear he judged the plate "faded" (enough to make photography difficult) which I take to mean the perspex is not opaque and/or the black/yellow is greying out which neither is true IMHO.

 

I paced 20 strides and could easily read the plate, I paced 40 strides and still no problem, as I continued walking away, I could still read it so it doesn't fail the "not easily legible" and that wasn't what the tester was failing it for, he implied the camera's are less capable than the human eye - yet my cheap digicam photo'd it just fine. I just can't see where he's coming from.

 

As for "if in doubt", he didn't seem in doubt to me but I understand what you're saying.

 

The tester said they're more stringent about plates now but what is he relying on here? - if we can't know this info, the system's a license to print money, isn't it?

[patdavies]

Yes, the backing has delaminated to the point a few spots of the "yellow space" is encroached on at the very edges of the plate but the tester did not relate to such a fault. He made it clear he judged the plate "faded" (enough to make photography difficult) which I take to mean the perspex is not opaque and/or the black/yellow is greying out which neither is true IMHO.

 

I paced 20 strides and could easily read the plate, I paced 40 strides and still no problem, as I continued walking away, I could still read it so it doesn't fail the "not easily legible" and that wasn't what the tester was failing it for, he implied the camera's are less capable than the human eye - yet my cheap digicam photo'd it just fine. I just can't see where he's coming from.

 

As for "if in doubt", he didn't seem in doubt to me but I understand what you're saying.

 

The tester said they're more stringent about plates now but what is he relying on here? - if we can't know this info, the system's a license to print money, isn't it?

 

 

Not quite.

 

If you feel that the tester has acted unfairly you can appeal the matter to VOSA

[gwc1000]

MrMt, I undesrtand your frustration, but in the whole scheme of things considering you have had to have sills welded up, a rear box, and driveshaft gaiter, another five to ten pounds for a plate is possibly not worth the aggro of complaining to VOSA. You will probably find that VOSA have a waiting list of three or four weeks, so your car will remain off road for that time, and then if VOSA agree with the tester, you will have to buy the plate anyway.

[riget]

Why don't you ring vosa? The numbers on your paperwork from the mot station.

Also why not upload the pic you took so we can see for ourselves.