PhilipGB

No more than any citizen I would think. Possibly falls under citizen arrest laws.

In the UK you can perform a citizens arrest if it is to prevent the person causing physical injury to himself or others, the person suffering physical injury or the person causing loss of or damage to property.

Driving an unroadworthy car is not an indictable offence though so it may not stand, and you'd be leaving yourself open to false imprisonment charges.

I would think the strongest case you could have to hold the car would be once the wheel is removed to inspect the car, refuse to then prepare the car to leave on safety grounds. Then refuse the person access to your facilities, again on health and safety grounds and wait until an actual constable shows up and explain the situation.

loftust

Police do have the power to remove a vehicle from the road if it is unroadworthy...

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ROB1980

Let's just say this car was in for an mot, all I could do was fail it and put a dangerous to drive note on the failure sheet, even being an mot tester I can't stop people driving away in a dangerous car although I think in this case I should be able to, I wouldn't risk refusing to give him his keys as the law would more than likely be against me, could I have refused to refit the wheel and insist on a tow truck?

Maybe I should have reported him but how far do I go, I fail cars with worn brakes, tyres, broken springs etc on mot every day.

ROB1980

I've put the following pics on here before so you may have seen them but for those who haven't here they are again, maybe I should do an mot failure of the day tread with pics of anything I come across at work.

cheshire_carper

These pictures are nothing short of shocking

Starlight

I agree sort of begs the question what is the point of the MOT when so many people are ignoring it (the car drivers not the tester).
I wonder how many of those that you put a failure on get it fixed and come back for a re test. My guess is a lot do not if they are prepared to derive off with a vehicle in such an unsafe condition.

ROB1980

Problem with the mot is some people seem to think an mot pass means the car is faultless and will remain so for 12 months, the clamped springs above are not actually a fail

Polemicist

What about those countries where there's no requirement for an MOT?

Whilst I admit it's hardly a top news story and the Daily Mail wouldn't get exercised about it, there wouldn't appear to be an epidemic of deaths attributed to poorly maintained vehicles.

So his brakes are defective; I suspect he'll come to a grinding halt (pun intended...) long before anything serious happens.

All this BS is a ruse to get garage's hands in our pockets.

I used to drive about in a friend's Ford Anglia with bodywork kept 'together' with a part of a railway sleeper and baler twine.

loftust

I agree...the MOT is THE most basic of safety inspections and doesn't go far enough in many areas.

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ROB1980

You don't even remove the wheels so drum brakes are only checked on the rolling road for efficiency.