DVSA apologises for offensive MOT advisory notices

The government agency is investigating the misuse of the free text advisory feature

MOT sign
Image: Newspress

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has apologised after a number of offensive comments from MOT records were circulated on social media.

One MOT certificate from 2019 featured insulting comments about the owner of a Land Rover Freelander. Since being shared by @HSV_Valiant, the tweet has been viewed 1.3 million times, receiving around 450 retweets and almost 5500 likes.

One Twitter user responded with a link to a Facebook post with around 70 other examples of inappropriate MOT advisories.

The comments include:

  • Mini: ‘Beautiful owner’
  • Yamaha YBR125: ‘Owner overweight’
  • Volkswagen Transporter: ’Owner is grumpy’
  • Peugeot 106: ’Owner has issues’
  • TVR Cerbera: ’Owner acts posh!!’
  • Land Rover Discovery: ’Owner is idiot’ and ‘car is horrible colour’
  • BMW M3: ’Owner needs a haircut’
  • Honda Civic: ’Owner looks like SuBo’
  • Volkswagen Golf: ’Number of Wotsits in glovebox below requirements’

In response, a DVSA spokesperson told Garage Wire: “DVSA has removed a number of offensive comments from MOT records which were captured at the time of the original test for certain vehicles.

”We apologise for any offence caused to the vehicle owners and members of the public viewing MOT records through the Check MOT History service.

“We are investigating the misuse of the free text advisory feature and our enforcement teams will follow up with any testers or garages who we find to be adding content unrelated to the vehicle roadworthiness and/or recording advisory defects which do not accurately reflect the condition of the vehicle at the time of the MOT test.”

The DVSA went on to tell us that of the 42 million MOT tests carried out annually, the vast majority are conducted to the appropriate standard. It recognises that the majority of testers conduct themselves in a professional manner.

It also said that while it is possible to record some advisory items – which do not result in a test failure but should be monitored or fixed in the future – MOT testers should only use free text for instances where there is no pre-defined advisory category.

The inappropriate advisory notes on the Freelander’s certificate have since been removed.

9 Comments

  1. Highly inappropriate advises. Let’s hope the individuals are dealt with and not a lame cop out action by dvsa where they remove the manual advisory option.

    Reply
  2. Good !! Totally infantile. I’ve reported some myself !

    Reply
  3. this is funny , i approve

    Reply
    • I don’t find it funny 😠😠

      Reply
    • I don’t find it funny are you a TESTER

      Reply
  4. I saw them on Tic Tok yesterday and left a comment was this really real or just a April fools joke as never seen it before. Received a message saying it was real and check out the Freelander number plate but nothing was on the website. I am surprised that it has taken years to come out or did the owners of the vehicle’s new the mot tester and it was supposed to be a practical joke.

    Reply
  5. Any TESTER found in disrepute of this should have the maximum penalty points and discipline actions against them

    Reply
  6. Anyone found Guilty of this bringing the test scheme in disrepute should have penalty points awarded against their record

    Reply
  7. I get on well with my local garage and could see them doing something like this. Obviously some comments would be unacceptable but it’s sad to see people like Ronnie and Lee removing every trace of fun from the world.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>


The reCAPTCHA verification period has expired. Please reload the page.

Have your say!

7 0

Lost Password

Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.