Road Traffic Act 1972

55 Tests to check whether defects have been remedied

(1) Where a certificate has been given under section 54 of this Act with respect to a motor vehicle, the Secretary of State may, within the period of thirty days beginning with the date on which he receives the certificate, require the person who is the owner of the vehicle at the time of the requirement to make the vehicle available for a further test by an officer of the Secretary of State and for that purpose may request that person to specify—

(a) a period of seven days within which the examination is to take place, being a period falling within the period of thirty days beginning with the date of the requirement, disregarding any day in which the vehicle is outside Great Britain ; and

(b) a place, or if that person thinks fit, a local government area, where the test may conveniently be carried out.

(2) Where a vehicle is made available under subsection (1) above for a further test, any officer of the Secretary of State may test and inspect it for the purpose of ascertaining whether any defect specified in the notice relating to it under the said section 54 has been remedied.

(3) Section 54 of this Act shall apply in relation to a test under this section as it applies in relation to a test under section 53 thereof with the substitution for references to an authorised examiner of references to an officer of the Secretary of State.

(4) Paragraphs 3 and 4 of Schedule 3 to this Act shall apply in relation to a test under this section as they apply in relation to a deferred test, subject to the following modifications, that is to say—

(a) for references therein to the foregoing provisions of that Schedule there shall be substituted references to subsection (1) above;

(b) in those paragraphs " owner " shall have the meaning assigned by section 196 of this Act and not the meaning assigned by paragraph 5 of that Schedule; and

(c) for the reference in paragraph 3 to premises there shall be substituted a reference to a place.

(5) If a person obstructs an officer of the Secretary of State acting under this section, or fails to comply with a requirement of this section or of paragraphs 3 and 4 of the said Schedule 3 as applied by this section, he shall be guilty of an offence.

(6) Any station or apparatus provided and maintained under section 43(5) of this Act by the Secretary of State or a council designated for the purposes of that section may be used by the Secretary of State or that council, as the case may be, for the carrying out of examinations for the purpose of ascertaining whether any such repairs as are mentioned in section 54(3)(a) of this Act have been carried out and for the carrying out of tests and inspections under this section.

(7) In subsection (1) above " local government area " means, as respects England and Wales, a county borough, a county district or Greater London and, as respects Scotland, a county or burgh.