New Laws

I never do anyway, I get my MOT when it is due

in any case driving without an MOT certificate if it would pass one the next time entered is less of a crime than driving around 11.9 months of the year with something that would fail if it were tested on the spot.

As for barcodes, most supermarket readers have difficulty with them do you really think that:

a) a bar code can hold vast regiments of data

b) they can be read from a moving target considering that they are not in any standard place and a lot harder to see than reg no's

putting up the price of MOT's is of course a pain, but what else do you expect from the government,

Actually putting MOT's on a database is not such a bad idea, anything to deter the scum that drive round here untaxed and un mot'd in whatever they nicked the night before.

On Tue, 7 Jun 2005 21:25:28 +0100, "Larry" TOP POSTED:

Of course. Its only a number relating to your vehicle on a database.

I'm dubious that a roadside camera can read a moving barcode, but would not be surprised if it could.

I expect a Gubbermint to rule with compassion, honesty and common sense. I never get what I expect.

That presupposes that anybody from the local nick can be bothered to do anything about it. They are far too busy doing really important things, like err, well like, stuff, yaknow.

Yes, kilobytes in some instances. However, much more likely to hold just a relatively small number (e.g. the number plate) and look up the rest in a database.

Agreed - reflectance from the glass, physical obscuration and optical resolution make this unlikely. Placement and orientation are not issues - many readers now are actually digital cameras and select and decode the barcode (or barcodes) in software.

Quite. The technology already exists to look up insurance and MoT status for a number plate (DVLA do it for their online tax disc system, which is very good BTW). Doing a PNC for stolen vehicles also makes sense - can be done at petrol stations, drive throughs, major intersections and get the scumbags at every turn.

Big Brother is watching !!!

through "spray-on mud".

by Sept this year.

Tomorrow morning for us

nothing to stop you just turning up and hoping for a slot like at present Ours are £35 class 4, £45 class 7

mins to perform test.

As long as it take but at least 30 mins

eventually hold all your details,

record the bar-code and your reg.

your tax runs out.

but isn't that illegal and doesn't it void your insurance

is due one shortly, like in a

fail) and date it from that day as

No the computer will adjust to add on extra days or it will be done manually if its the first computerised test

It can't. Would need far too high a resolution to do that (far too expensive to have so many around).

Fred

Why read the bar code? Read the registration number. That's routinely done in Australia by cameras mounted on overpasses to check long distance trucks for spped and log book violations.

Ron

Hi All

Did You See The Tv Program Last Week The Police Have a Mobile Unit They Park up That Can Track 3000 Cars Per Day etc For Mot,Tax Insurance Log Book & Driver Details from the Reg Plate in the uk

Regards

Jb

"Big Brother Is Watching"

If you think about it, it saves the hassle of having to produce your documents at a police station if you are stopped and don't happen to be carrying them with you.

One thing a camera can not do however, so far as insurance is concerned is determine whether the driver of the vehicle is the legal owner and therefore properly insured to drive it unless we all have the reg tatooed on our foreheads too, nor can they tell if the car is a ringer or is carrying false plates if the details roughly match.

The Police Have A Special Control Room For Such Things & I have Also Seen Cars Clamped Locally To My Area By The Police For No Tax etc & Drivers Driving Without A License or Banned a Whole New Ball Game

Regards

Jb

We don't have that problems to same degree in Oz. If a car isn't registered, the number plates have to be returned to the registration authorities. The next time it is registered, it will get a new number. The plates don't stay with the vehicle for life.

If the police find an unregistered car, they remove the number plates.

Ron

On or around Thu, 9 Jun 2005 00:29:19 +0100, "Office" enlightened us thusly:

except the MOT database is not yet fully operational. Just had the bike MOTd and it's th enormal kind written on paper 'cos the computer ain't working yet.

Eh? So how does that work? Why does removing the plates make a difference, given that it's already unregistered?

Strange lot, these aussies!

On or around Thu, 9 Jun 2005 08:29:39 +0100, Ian Rawlings enlightened us thusly:

ain't the Oz plates license plates as well, though?

had the Saab MOT's the other week, computerised thingy 'first one in cornwall' he said, erm, righto then.. won't be long I suppose.

Regards. Mark.

Still makes no difference, what's the point in removing them and leaving the car as-is, if the plates are out of date then the car is unlicensed on the public roads, if they take the plates off then the car is unlicensed on public roads.. No difference. Surely they must do sommat else other than just take the plates off.

Presumably driving around without plates is a bit obvious and illegal. Makes it easy to spot, be stopped and done...

The "legal owner" and "properly insured to drive it" are not related. A suspect a majority of newish cars on the road are legally the property of a finance company but with full use and maintenance granted to the person paying off the finance, which may or may not be "registered keeper", which may or may not be some one insured to drive that vehicle.

Depends what details they get back from the insurance search on reg number. Presumably a yes/no on insured and probably a list of the insured drivers or a statement along the lines of "employees of XYC Co Ltd.". Agreed they can't tell without stopping and identifying the driver (wait until compulsulary remotely readable ID cards come in...) but when they do it's something else to charge you with.

Yes, a point often misunderstood. I'm legal owner of 2 cars, registered keeper of 5 and insured to drive anything.

It would only be possible to find out whether there was an insurance policy for that vehicle. I believe that insurance companies tend to honour the 3rd party element of any claim arising from said vehicle, regardless of who was driving (more a 'custom and practice' thing than a law though). No doubt they make efforts to reclaim their money from the negligent/offending individual though.

Mandy's car was uninsured for seven months fairly recently. She'd sent off all the paperwork and the insurer (who shall remain as nameless as they were shameless) had 'lost it'. It was only months later when she noticed that direct debits weren't coming out and rang up to query it that they said 'oh, you never renewed'. Granted, she should have noticed the lack of an insurance certificate through the post, but didn't. Could have been very difficult had the worst happened.