Sounds like hype. You couldn't drive a car in unroadworthy condition on the road without risking a fine anyway.
It's more like a HGV test where if we had a serious fail we would get a prohibition and the truck would have to be taken back on a wrecker.
They have changed 'advisories' to 'minors'.
We always used to be able to mark fails as dangerous anyway.
Tyre pressures weren't a fail as such before, but you would fail on brakes in the brake rollers if the tyres were flat. In the training they told us just to put some more air in the tyre to get the test done and advise.
Headlight washers not working were a fail before with xenon headlights fitted.
Reverse lights should be working sounds fair enough.
Bumpers used to fail on sharp edges (it was if you could scratch yourself walking past it parked, nothing to do with collisions).
There are some crazy things in the MOT test, such as having anything hanging from rear view mirror, or in between the driver and windscreen, but anything in front of the windscreen is completely free, you could have wheels bolted to the bonnet until you couldn't see past them but it would still be a pass.
It does sound like the new system will be abused though, you can imagine unscrupulous garages telling people about 'the new rules' meaning they have to have repairs done or get a £2500 fine.
No one has mentioned if the data from the MOT test will be passed on to the police, but it sounds like it could be a lot of work for them if it is.
