Fifth of all cars fail their first MoT

In 2007, a total of 21.6% of three-year-old vehicles in the UK did not pass the MoT, figures obtained by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) Trust revealed.

The trust said this compared unfavourably with many European countries - some of which test cars for the first time after four years rather than the UK minimum of three years. France, for example, had a 5.61% failure rate, while Switzerland had 17.5% and Norway 19.9%. Spain, at 32%, has a much higher rate of failure.

Germany, where cars have to take an MoT test after three years, has a failure rate of just 4.8%, while Austria, another three-year country, had a 10% failure rate.

The IAM Trust, which obtained the UK figures under the Freedom of Information Act, said lighting and signalling problems were the chief cause of UK failures, followed by tyres and wheels and problems associated with drivers' views, including cracked windscreens.