The Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs (FBHVC) and Greg Knight MP – chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Historic Vehicle Group – have met with Mike Penning MP (Under-Secretary of State for Roads and Motoring) and two senior officials from DfT and DVLA to raise issues relevant to the UK’s classic car movement.

Some of the concerns raised included the bureaucracy involved when changing engine numbers on V5C documents; the possibility of allowing the DVLA to mark V5Cs with ‘non-transferable’ registration numbers to safeguard the originality of historic vehicles; the UK’s use of the concessions allowed in the EU Roadworthiness Directive for old vehicles; and the likelihood of any changes to legislation for modern vehicles that could have a knock-on effect for the classic vehicle scene.

The Minister emphasised his willingness to look at cutting out unnecessary regulation and bureaucracy where practical. Since the meeting, he has agreed in principle to exempting cars and smaller vehicles built before 31/12/1920 from MoT testing, and asked DfT officials to begin the process of consultation to make the necessary legislative changes.