Police Road-side checks

12/01/2011 - 16:45

I just thought I'd add this as it may save some a fair bit of cash in fines/trouble.I was pulled over around 1 month ago by the Polizia. It was all very routine they said although I was driving a UK-registered car. They wanted/asked to see my driving license, insurance (including green card) and they asked for my vehicle 'safety certificate.' I quickly deduced that they meant my MOT certificate. I hadn't got it in the car - it was in a filing cabinet in the house which I explained. I pointed out that I couldn't obtain a tax disc without having a valid 'MOT' and he wrote down the tax disc information. I asked if I needed to produce the MOT anywhere but he said it wasn't necessary as they could check with the 'Great Britain Authorities to confirm it was valid!It's only the second time in 5 years I've been pulled over although I see the road-side checkpoints at least a couple of times a week. Perhaps they are getting more clued up about these things.

Topic

Travel

Comment

This inter Europe checking of databases is in its early days. Police in Spain and France have been pretending they check details for years.

it's because IF one is driving an �� registered car one has to have the certificate (mot) of revisione in the car with you.IF you don't/or it is not up to date then the car can be immediately sequestered...it happened to me...one is not allowed to proceed any further..if they're not feeling too nasty they MAY give you a paper to allow you to go straight home (if nearby) but you can't use the car until it's all sorted out (plus the fine of course)....

A number of years ago I too was pulled over in a routine check. In Italy you are required to carry all orginal copies of the relevant documents ie licence. insurance docs and the 'libretto' with revisione (MOT) stickers on the reverse - we only had photocopies in the car. When the carabinieri questioned why the copies I pointed out to them that in the UK I had always been told to carry copies so that in the event of the car being stolen the thief would only have the copies and not original docs - after some deliberation they agreed that would be a sensible policy and sent us on our way!