Pretty soon my driver's side wingmirror is coming off to be colour coded (black bit ---> silver)

This is going to be done over a few days but I may need to use the car in the mean time. Can I still legally do this?

I looked into this, because as you know, a 14 year old tit sucker kicked mine off, and I believe that it is illegal, but the general consensus of the INTERNETZ is that plod wouldn't really care.

Technically illegal (you need one for the MOT) so you could be stopped and given a whatsit and perhaps a £30 fine, but a mate of mine had the mirrors nicked off his S3 about 3 months ago and has only just replaced them, without getting any hassle from the rozzers in the meantime.

On reflection though I'd be careful..

Despite the fact it's not really legal, you will find it very difficult to drive without it.

I must be an old fart, but back in the days, we never had wing mirrors, just the interior rear view mirror, and as far as I am aware that is all that is legally required today

If we saved up enough and were really well orf we bought an offside wing mirror , banged a hole in the wing four inches back from the headlight and bobs your uncle Man that was living

Infact I am sure that all that is required is a rear view mirror

National

IIRC The interior mirror is the one that is not nessesary, the external ones are.

no, you need to have a wing mirror on the drivers side, and it needs to be possible to adjust it, the passenger side one is optional

Again i thought it was different.

Legally, I thought out of the three mirrors, you only legally need two? I know people pertinently running a mirror blank, i assumed it would be based on this?

:confused:

think of a van with a solid partition inside so you cant see through.... an internal rear view mirror is useless in this case except for shaving on the motorway

I'm sure on the Base models of some older cars, they only had one wing mirror. This was of course the drivers side (offside). The interior mirror is the one that is not necessary - some vans don't have them

MOT UK car and vehicle MOT information equipment car servicing parts and spares - power steering

Non endorseable (£30) offence code N551 states "NO MIRRORS" (plural) which tends to suggest that if you have at least one, you shouldn't be committing the offence.

That said, it all comes down to "the attitude test" if/when you get stopped...

I personally can't see a problem with removing one door mirror for a few days

The MOT requirements are based on the age of the car. For your car the requirement is that it should have two rear view mirrors, one of which must be the drivers door mirror.

So you can drive without the passenger side door mirror or without the internal mirror.

Right - OK - I'm going to have to time this colour coding for a weekend with a forecast for a dry early part of the week so I can cycle to work.

I know I would miss the mirror when driving for sure.....

Thanks for the discussion - very helpful.

Imagine driving on a motorway without a passenger side wing mirror :(

IMHO if a section bobby (ie not a traffic bobby) has time to stop you for this he isn't working hard enough. I wouldn't worry about it if it's just for a few days.

i had the unfortunate experience of some scroat smashing my mirror off, went to the local police station to report it (going back about 10 years). I asked the officer as he took details and he said as long as you have two mirrors on the car (2 outside or an inside+1 outside) then you are covered by law as the law says you have to have two mirrors. As far as i know this hasnt changed and if you have any problems from plod which i doubt remind them you still have the other two mirrors while your other one is being repaired

Get a s/hand one, a scraped one shoud be cheap, paint that & swap

To add if plod cant be arsed to stop cars with only one headlight you would be incredibly unlucky to be stopped for just a missing mirror

Imagine driving on a motorway without a passenger side wing mirror :(

I'm pretty sure my first metro only had a drivers side wing mirror. One of my minis did but that's because the passenger side one fell off on the M60 when I went over a bump.

Driving a van with a partition and a rear view mirror can be really confusing, I keep checking the mirror and thinking WTF. Then you get used to it and when you go back to driving a car you stop using the rear view mirror.

No one close to you breaking a Fabia they can lend you a mirror from just while you paint?? Shame your not still fixing up the white one.

it's all written there in the constructions and use regulations, it's been a while since i've ad to look any of it up but iirc you only need 1 rear facing mirror in total, although some mot stations and a bit fuzzy on the actual rulings

IMHO if a section bobby (ie not a traffic bobby) has time to stop you for this he isn't working hard enough. I wouldn't worry about it if it's just for a few days.

These days, criminals have cars. The more cars you stop, the more likely you are to stop a travelling criminal. Even non traffic cops...

- and before anyone says, I'm not for one minute suggesting Jason is a travelling criminal:rofl:

Jason - If you get stopped by the local fuzz for your lack of mirror, take their shoulder number and I'll give them a slap! Such a minor offence. From what I remember from my training, two out of the three mirrors and youre fine.

You dont really need all three anyway, proper use of your rear view mirror should minimise the need for the offside one as you should always know whats around you.

Jason - If you get stopped by the local fuzz for your lack of mirror, take their shoulder number and I'll give them a slap! Such a minor offence. From what I remember from my training, two out of the three mirrors and youre fine.

You dont really need all three anyway, proper use of your rear view mirror should minimise the need for the offside one as you should always know whats around you.

I thought you were going to threaten to pull me over yourself if you saw me driving with no driver's mirror! :P

Think about the aerodynamic balance of the car though Jason!