7:30 am, April 19, 2013
CENTRAL LONDON has topped a list of regions put forward by the SMMT as having the highest proportion of ‘avoidable’ MOT failures.
The SMMT estimates that 46.4 per cent of all MOT failures in Central London could have been avoided if drivers carried out simple checks of their cars before heading to the test centre – with easy-to-fix items like windscreen wiper blades and even a lack of washer fluid all possible fails.
In fact, London wasn’t just top of the list, but made up the majority of the table – with other regions around the capital also mentioned in the list. South West, North West, East and West areas of London were all in the top 15 – each with at least 30 per cent of fails determined to have easy fixes.
Greater London areas filled in the rest of the list – with Bromley, Ilford, Kingston, Sutton, Harrow, Croydon, Romford, Twickenham and Enfield all getting a mention for having a lack of proactive pre-test checks from owners.
At the opposite end of the scale, Scotland islands dominated the list of places least likely to suffer from the issue – with Orkney, the Hebrides and Shetland’s test records the least likely to be filled with minor fails.
Scotland in general performed well, in fact – Kirkcaldy, Inverness, Aberdeen, and Dundee all having low ‘avoidable’ failure rates. Northern English towns and citys also did well – Berwick, Bradford, Sunderland, Hull, Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle made up the rest of the list – while Southerners Telford and Truro snuck in just after.
The data shows that, more than anywhere else in the UK, motorists in London would be able to avoid needless MOT failures by spending just a few minutes carrying out a series of simple pre-MOT checks,’ commented Mike Baunton, SMMT interim chief executive.
‘The aim of the “Minute Or Two” campaign is to give motorists the knowledge and confidence to check their own vehicles and eliminate the possibility of simple problems, such as lights and fluid levels, causing a fail at the vehicle’s next MOT test.’
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