MOT Legalities - numberplate light.

Evening peeps,
Checking over the bike tonight and spotted I've got no number plate light, due to the tail tidy, but the garage that sold it said they gave it a new MOT.

Shouldn't the plate be illuminated same as a car? If so what can I do about the MOT cause surely it means its not valid? Plus anything else they 'over looked'?

[squirrel_hunter]

An MOT is only useful when its being printed off. After you have the MOT you can change whatever you want, the bike may not get a MOT again and it may be illegal or unsafe, but it still carries a piece of paper attached to it...

As for the number plate light, it is a requirement. But like some garages who overlook a fruity exhaust some will also overlook something like that if a tail tidy has been fitted. Depends what they and you are like.

Some bikes also do not need a separate number plate light and feed off of the tail light which will have a clear portion to give illumination. Without seeing the rest of the bike, its not possible to make a judgement.

Number plate light is a legal requirement and is always required for MOT. If there was not one fitted and the MOT station gave it a new certificate then they have broken the law and risk losing their licence. In your position I would approach them and find out what they are prepared to do about it. They can fit a small LED light which can be fitted either as a fastener for the number plate or just bolted through it and connected to the original connector. Easy to fix and shouldn't cost any more than a few pounds.

[Red Herring]

With an SV650 Pointy you may argue that the rear position lamp is so positioned as to sufficiently illuminate the number plate. I know that in all practical terms this is exactly what it does, which is probably why it gets away with it......however the small print of the lighting regulations does specify that a number plate light has to be white......

I guess it all depends on who is doing the MOT and just how pedantic they want to be. Personally I've never had a problem.

I often wonder why a number plate light has anything to do with safety or emissions or anything really... I mean the number plate is reflective anyway plus the plate is normally under the rear light that is on all the time..!!!

[shiftin_gear98]

I had my MOT due last month, I too noticed the led had gone.
As I had already booked the MOT, and only noticed that morning, I decided to phone them up. I was told, "at this current moment in time it is NOT a fail to have a broken numberplate light".

He did warn that it maybe soon, and that the finalities of the MOT are constantly changing.

I took bike along, it sailed through, I did order a new led for my piece of mind.

Ring them...

My curvy passed with a tail tidy with no number plate light. I had to buy a reflective strip as my bike had no rear reflector though.

Originally Posted by shiftin_gear98

I had my MOT due last month, I too noticed the led had gone.
As I had already booked the MOT, and only noticed that morning, I decided to phone them up. I was told, "at this current moment in time it is NOT a fail to have a broken numberplate light".

He did warn that it maybe soon, and that the finalities of the MOT are constantly changing.

I took bike along, it sailed through, I did order a new led for my piece of mind.

Ring them...

Regardless of the legalities I think this kind of thing can get you a pull.

As I like to avoid attention from Johnny Law I'd spend the few quid on an LED off e-bay. It's an easy fix, I've done it.

Mark

[NTECUK]

You can check the latest mot requierments on vosa s web site.
As it stands today a number plate light is not a requierment .

[NTECUK]

http://www.motinfo.gov.uk/htdocs/m1i00000101.htm