Section 47 (1) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 states that it is an offence for anyone to drive, or allow or cause to be driven, a vehicle which requires, but does not have, a valid Ministry of Transport test certificate.

An offence under this section does not bring with it the imposition of penalty points or the risk of disqualification but does carry with it the risk of a substantial financial penalty.

Section 47(2) provides that the vehicles to which this rule applies are those registered over three years ago, or:

"Those which, having a date of manufacture not less than three years before that time, have been used on roads (whether in Great Britain or elsewhere) before being registered"

Moreover, certain classes of vehicle require to be tested after one year. These are:

(a) A motor vehicle used for the carriage of passengers and with more than eight seats, excluding the drivers’ seat, or

(b) A taxi

(c) An ambulance

There are two main statutory defences to a charge under this section. These require to be established by an accused person on the balance of probabilities and are as follows:

(a) That you were taking the vehicle to an MOT testing station for the purposes of having a test carried out at the time at which you were stopped. Essential to the proof of this defence is establishing that ‘a previous arrangement’ existed with the testing station with regards to the testing of your vehicle on that day and a defence witness from the testing station should ideally be brought along to confirm this.

(b) That the vehicle has only been brought into the United Kingdom temporarily and has an appropriate registration mark for the company from which it came.

All of Scotland Covered:
Including: Glasgow Edinburgh Aberdeen Dundee Dumfries Paisley East Kilbride Perth Livingston Giffnock Cumbernauld Hamilton Kirkcaldy Dunfermline Ayr Kinross Kilmarnock Inverness Greenock Inverclyde Port Glasgow Coatbridge North Lanarkshire Glenrothes Fife Airdrie Falkirk Stirling Rutherglen Dumfries Galloway Motherwell Wishaw Clydebank West Dunbartonshire Bearsden East Dunbartonshire Cambuslang Newton Mearns East Renfrewshire Bishopbriggs Musselburgh East Lothian Arbroath Angus Polmont Elgin Renfrew Renfrewshire Alloa Bellshill Clackmannanshire Blantyre Dumbarton West Dunbartonshire Kirkintilloch Clarkston East Renfrewshire Bathgate West Lothian Stenhousemuir Falkirk Peterhead Aberdeenshire Barrhead Grangemouth Falkirk St Andrews Kilwinning Ayrshire Viewpark Buckhaven Penicuik Midlothian Stranraer Johnstone Erskine Larkhall Moray