LIFE BEGINS AT FORTY
From May 20th this year, your 40 year-old classic motorcycle (or car, for that matter) will no longer need to pass an annual MoT test provided it’s registered as ‘historic’. Previously the cut-off date for vehicles no longer needing an MoT has been 1960, but following government consultation last year the exemption from the roadworthiness test has been extended to cover almost all vehicles with the taxation class ‘historic’. We’re going to look at the reasoning behind this change, the implications for old bike riders, and the exceptions to the rule that might catch us out. And just for fun, we’re going to put a 65 year-old BSA through the modern MoT, just to see what happens.
WHY THE CHANGE?
We all agree that vehicles used on the roads need to be kept in good and safe mechanical order; this is just common sense. We might also assume that older vehicles – we’ll call them historic because there’s no strict definition of ‘classic’ – are more likely to be unroadworthy than more modern ones, but the
