This is very urgent and hoping someone on here can put me in touch with the owner(s) of a 1993 UK spec MK1 1.6 MX5, reg. L876 PTU.
It has been parked on the main road(A379) that passes through Chillington(TQ7) for around three weeks and no-one local knows anything about it. The locals are now ‘revolting’, well they always were really and when the tax runs out at the end of the month are queueing up to get it towed and quite possibly scrapped.
I live locally and happy to assist but only a few days left before it is out of my hands.
Thank you for pointing out the tax expiry - clearly the owner is not in a desperate situation or that would not have been very recently renewed.
A car without an MOT can be seized and the owner fined if parked on the public highway. Not really sure why, particularly if it is in roadworthy condition. MOT surely only applies when the vehicle is in use ie being driven.
The car is tidy so hopefully owner away enjoying themselves and will retrieve the car shortly. As pointed out this car has as much right to partially block one of the narrowest stretches of ‘A’ road in the country as anyone else - stuff the locals!
The reason a vehicle parked on the public highway with an expired MOT can be seized is that by definition it is unroadworthy and therefore the insurance is also deemed invalid.
However, the authorities do seem to be more keen to collect their vehicle tax but if the owner has declared a SORN it becomes less of a priority even though the vehicle is illegally being kept on the road. I did once report an untaxed vehicle with a long expired MOT after it had been parked in our village on the inside of a blind, very sharp 90 degree bend opposite a junction for well over a year and caused other vehicles to swerve out into the middle of the road around the corner. Over about 18 months it eventually had at least two flat tyres and a big pile of rubbish under it. Strange thing was, after it was removed I checked it’s MOT history and it had passed the MOT the following day with no advisories.