I read and seems like your UK MOT is something very complicated.

Here in Latvia you get marks:

1 - a warning. Maybe it's a licence plate bulb that is not working anymore. Minor problem. You pass even if there are twenty of 1s.

2 - must repair. You get a month to do that. Feel free to drive away.

3 - major problem. Can't go home. Either repair it there or get an evacuator (or drive illegally). Mostly given for leaking petrol, very bad brakes etc.

 

Mostly people do not get these 3s because they are given in a very bad cases.By the way, here MOT station doesn't repair anything. It only checks the condition of the car.

The MOT testing system in Northern Ireland is largely different from that in GB where a private motor car requires it's first test at 4 years old not 3 and the tests cannot be carried out by private garages, only at regional government test centres. To book a test it genraly needs to be done at least a month before, but at times it has been over 6 months when upgrades have been being carried out on mass across the test centres :( In the early to mid 2000's the government here had to pass temp legistlation to allow vehicles to be allowed to be used on the road without a current valid MOT certificate due to the delays at the time for up to 6 months after the expiry of the current one. We do not get free retests, but get a discounted retest fee if carried out within 21 days of a refusal.  As such no remedial mechanical work can be carried out as all vehicles are being inspected/tested by civil servants. At any time if a person is found to be driving a vehicle in an roadworthy condition, regardless of if it has passed it's MOT the day before, the driver remains liable to prosecution for doing so. Road side inspections used to be rather sporadic, but of late they have been doing a lot in the last year, opening test centres at 11pm - 3am and police along with DVA (NI version of DVLA/VOSA combined) stopping motorists at random and requiring them to drive to the local test centre for essentially an MOT to be carried out. Those whose vehicle fails have it impounded and are summonsed to the local magistrates court. This has been used very effectively against wee ****s who seem to have a trend of late in not cutting their springs down but removing them completely and running their cars low on the bump stops... But in order to be fair, any random car get's pulled in amongst the cast of the fast and furious brigade.

 

There is no open right to drive a death trap here even if on eat to or from a pre booked MOT test, or place of repair. To an from home = fair game.

 It's generally an offence to use a vehicle of test age that doesn’t have a current test certificate on a public road except when:

 

• taking it to a test centre for a test booked in advance
• bringing it away from a test centre after it has failed the test, to a place of repair
• taking it to or bringing it away from a place where, by previous arrangement, repairs are to be made or have been made to fix the faults that caused the vehicle to fail its test

Even in the above circumstances you may still be prosecuted for driving an unroadworthy vehicle if it doesn’t comply with various regulations affecting its construction and use. The insurance may also not be valid.

 

People in NI with really crap cars and just about every rally car in NI simply buy an MOT certificate over the phone from a Kevin Webbster type in GB somewhere, which is valid in place of the more stringent test here. ExPats who have move to mainland EU and are too cheap skate to pay their way all seem to do the same or just drive cars for years while illegally declared SORN'd in the UK. ExPat / rally forums are where you go to find out where to get a £100 dodgy MOT pass without leaving your living room it would seem. 

 

Don't get me started on the new rolling road element to the bike test 100% at owners risk and carried out by rider..... Some bikes have gone down and some bikers injured. On the plus side diesel smoke test has been illiminated due to them blowing up too many peoples engines and the legal action that resulted due to their 'owners risk' policies.