There has been a lot of concern within the car modification industry following The UK Government’s recent imposed review of The Future of Transport, specifically, the Tackling Tampering section. The document explains that it is part of the process of re-adopting under UK law areas which have previously been governed by the European Union. They start off by saying “We will create new offences for tampering with a system, part or component of a vehicle intended or adapted to be used on a road.” Now at first glance, due to the vagueness of the statement, you would think that this means all modifications to vehicles will become illegal, seeing as everything on a vehicle would either be classified as a system, part or component, however this is not specifically the case.
They go into detail as to the nature of the offences, which seem to relate to the production of devices designed to negate the safety or environmental features of the car. They’re at pains to say that they have no wish to target the legitimate car modification world, for example in motorsport, restoration, repairs or legitimate improvements to vehicles, such as classic cars or motorbikes, but it’s easy to see how a car modification enthusiast might inadvertently fall foul of any new rules. One additional point they make is that they don’t want to negatively impact any businesses involved in these activities, but by rendering a particular service or modification illegal, would surely suggest otherwise.
It’s worried enthusiasts enough that a petition has been launched on the UK parliamentary petition site, making the point that the existing yearly MOT roadworthiness test should fulfil the function of taking any illegal vehicles off the road. This petition requires 100,000 signatures and on the 04/01/2022 (date of this blog) the number of signatures is at 99,374, so there’s strong positivity that this will be taken to parliament. The consultation period for this whole policy began on 28 September 2021 and ended on 22 November 2021, but there has not yet been any final outcome, so this is something we will all have to wait on.
We’re always wary when governments wander into the car industry on the attempt to change the way it works by implementing new laws, it offers a sense of uncertainty for the future. It’s fair to say that British governments have had their fair share of ill-considered laws in their time, but before we assume doom upon the future of car modification in the UK, it’s worth noting that they don’t always make a mess in this area. For example the rules for the Individual Vehicle Approval test for putting a home-built car on the road are far from a bureaucratic nightmare, instead it is a a relatively sensible base in building a safe motor vehicle.
So we’d suggest not to panic just yet as we’re sure there’s going to be a lot of developments in this proposed change, but we at least deserve a detailed list of the specific modifications they’re talking about right?
What are your thoughts on this?
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