Trike headlights - MOT

[Mad Dog]

Just returned from MOT test with a trike built some years ago.

I had updated everything that I knew about in the latest VOSA issue (August 2004), but there is a misunderstanding in all the publications I have seen, which is clear in the pristine new Testers Manual.

So, here is the gospel:-

Motorcycle Derived Trike up to 1700mm wide - ONE dip/main headlight
over 1700mm - TWO dip/main

Car engine derived trike under 1300mm wide - ONE dip/main
over 1300mm - TWO dip/main

Equally spaced on the centreline of the vehicle and placed at the front no more than 850mm from the ground (could find no reference to any minimum or maximum distance apart).

Four weeks ago this would have passed with a single headlight, which it didn't today :(


The car engined bit is the key, and this one weighing in at 685Kg meant it falls in the Class 4 MOT - which, strictly speaking, is MOT'd as a car and therefore should have a front number plate !!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, how we laughed over a coffee in the test station. :cool:

[Alik Windrush]

Explained car or Bike derived in "Confused.com" thread.

You wouldn't need a front number plate because a 'Tricycle' is a vehicle weighing under 1 tonne and 'Motorcycle Derived Tricycles' can only carry a rear plate. I could quote the legislation but you have to trust me at sometime......