Bristol MOT tester convicted for 800 fraudulent tests

On 23 February 2023, David Stephen Carden was convicted of recording MOTs to vehicles which hadn’t entered the MOT garage he worked for on Duckmoor Road, Ashton Gate, Bristol.

The Bristol MOT tester was sentenced to 8 months in prison on each of 12 counts of fraud, to run concurrently and suspended for 12 months, 150 hours of unpaid work, 10 rehabilitation days and ordered to pay a contribution towards prosecution costs of £2250. 809 other cases were taken into consideration. He was also given the maximum ban of 5 years from MOT testing by DVSA and will have to re-apply if he wants to test vehicles again.

Carden committed the offences between 1 August 2021 and 14 January 2022 from the same Auto Scuderia garage in south Bristol.

During this time, he recorded 1,300 MOT tests when the average number carried out over a 6-month period is 284. A high proportion of vehicles being recorded as tested were for ones where the registered keeper lived some distance away, some as far as 279 miles from the testing station.

Many of the fraudulent tests had a decelerometer brake test recorded. Vehicles subject to MOT must have an appropriate level of brake test carried out in the form of a roller brake test not a decelerometer test. Whilst interrogating the data within the MOT Testing Service this was just one of a number of indicators that vehicles being issued with MOT test certificates at this garage were not being tested.

Marian Kitson, DVSA’s Director of Enforcement, said: “The high standard of MOT testing carried out on over 30 million vehicles a year contributes to Britain having some of the safest roads in the world.  Mr Carden issued MOT certificates to vehicles he had not seen or tested. He was both defrauding the MOT system and the public who rightly expect the MOT to help keep them and their families safe while using the roads.

“MOT testers hold a position of trust and Carden abused that trust by allowing potentially dangerous vehicles to remain on the road. We will ensure that anyone who compromises safety in pursuit of personal gain feels the full force of the law.”

Most MOTs are carried out by around 63,000 privately employed nominated MOT testers carrying out tests in around 23,000 testing stations around Great Britain.