The idea
Have a complete revamp of the MOT test to get rid of all the unnecessary and non safety related items that are tested.
1) is that the indicator bulbs are not yellow enough
2) Bodywork. on some cars areas of bodywork are not conducive to safety and could rot through without affecting safety.
3) The European Car Testing Regulations CONSLEG: 1996L0096 – 20/11/2003 (77/143/EEC) give a fairer indication of areas to test and are of a safety nature. The start of implementation was 1977, but sucessive governments have decided to ignore this and place more and more unnecessary items to look at on the list (in conjunction with the MOT Testers Association, who are only making work for their members).
Why is it important?
A lot of the items tested were only brought in to scrap good cars and either force people off the road or force people to buy new cars at unaffordable prices.
It is also a money making scam for garages with the backing of the MOT testers association, especially where MOT stations are connected to garages, where fiddling occurs.
As for the light bulb ruling, this ensures that all cars can fail and this is used by a lot of garages to boost profits.
Definitely a VERY bad law. Once people wise-up to what it implies, we could even see car manufacturers responding to public demand by NOT fitting any safety features beyond those which the law actually requires.