wacko

Question: If you have a full decat system. Then get stopped by the Police or such and a roadside emissions test is carried out, which you naturally fail. Where do you stand?? Is it a matter of putting the cats back and then getting it tested again, only to remove the cats once you have passed the test??
Does anyone know if roadside emissions are actually carried out by the Police??

AlanG

Hmmm..don't know.
But I reckon you would probably fail anyway if you were stopped not long after your car was started and it was still cold i.e. left home and they had set up a site a couple of mins drive down the road.

Sparks

I believe you can be fined on the spot for a fail, I presume this up to the discretion of the officer, i.e. if you are just over you may get away with it..

I think they give you a defect notice that you have to present within 7 days with a fresh MOT ( to prove the car now passes )

wacko

ok.... here's something else to complicate matters then. The car isn't three years old yet??? So doesn't require an MOT.

ChrisB

http://www.roads.dtlr.gov.uk/consult...ons2001/07.htm

"It is an absolute offence under Section 42 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 to use (or cause or permit to be used) a vehicle on a road if it does not comply with the relevant provisions of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986, as amended. The offence does not depend upon guilty knowledge and therefore it is not possible to mount a defence on the basis that a vehicle user did not know that the vehicle was in contravention of the Regulations at the time they were using it on a road."

"You (as named on the Notice itself) have been issued with the Notice because you were the user of the vehicle specified on the Notice when it was found, during a roadside enforcement check carried out by an Authorised Person, to exceed the maximum emission levels as laid down in Regulation 61 of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986, as amended."

however...

"The Regulations permit the Fixed Penalty Notice to be waived completely in cases where you can show that the vehicle had passed an MOT emissions check within the preceding six months and the emissions performance of the vehicle is corrected within 14 days. To confirm this you must present both MOT test certificates (one dated before, but no more than six months before, the date of the offence; the other after, but no more than 14 days after) to the address shown on the Fixed Penalty Notice."

Pete Croney

And...

You can elect to take a deffered test, if you are unhappy with how your car is running.

For this, you must get the car tested at an MOT station within 14 days.

Emmission tests are carried out by Environmental Health dept of a local authority.

Tests are very rare and I am told by a Police office that was present on one that they are looking J and K reg cars whose cats will be knackered, plus the really old smokey cars.

DavidRB

Do they stop buses?

chrisp

Only to allow drivers to get home, who have failed the test and had their cars impounded

[Edited by chrisp - 5/17/2002 1:18:14 PM]

Jane the Dane

They should stop busses. They are the worst on the road.

I am glad you asked. I got a full Scooby sport exhaust system on my car. I have often thought the same. This morning on my way to work the police was stopping cars in the upper site direction and it’s not the first time. I am not sure if it is for emission or road tax but it do makes you wonder. I just hope they don't start stopping people coming in the other direction.

It sounds like you will be unlucky if it happens.

Jane the Dane

Mcbrun555

There is always talk of this on the board, but has it ever happened to anyone? It would be interesting to know if the police have ever targeted an Impreza with a big zorst.

Mcbrun555

wacko

I guess by the mere nature of the car, you do not attract too much attention having a big exhaust. Unlike many of the hot hatches out there that have a visit to halfords and had the biggest exhaust possible bolted on.
Plus, if the car is relatively new, again you are less likely to attract attention...... but there is that one in a million chance.

I agree, it would be interesting to hear from anyone who has actually been stopped.

Sparks

Have seen road side tests on the approach to M27 J5. Scared the **** out of me as I run a decat that is slightly above emission levels ( I think.. havent checked it lately ). Not in a scoob.. my exhaust is quite quiet at idle/low revs so I just quietly snuck by ( was in traffic ). Did make me think though!

Targetting J/K platers sounds like a money spinner to me..

How do imports fair in this then ? they were never sold offically in the UK.. does this have any bearing on which levels are permissible ?

Pete Croney

Sparks, do you really believe they would do it if there wasn't revenue involved?

Sparks

Pete.. heh.. sorry, my usual cynicism dropped for a moment!

Mark