I have been a MOT tester for about 10 months now and I was surprised when I went on the training course, just how low the standards are. The way I justify it to myself, is that if we fail a car we are acting on behalf of the department of transport to tell the customer that their vehicle is unsafe and cannot be used on the public roads. This is a fairly strong action and we need to be sure that the vehicle is dangerous. As qualified people we realise that vehicles need to be kept in top condition, but the MOT is still important to catch the people who otherwise would never spend a penny on maintainance untill the car breaks down or causes an accident.