Scrapping yearly MOTs is a dangerous idea that will put lives at risk

One idea to emerge from the gathering of minds was to do away with the annual MOT; a safety check designed to ensure vehicles travelling on the roads are roadworthy.

Checks range from brake safety to tyre tread levels, invisible defects under the vehicle to window-wiper function (and dozens more) - all of which are necessary to ensure the driver, their passengers and all other road users do not have their safety compromised or their lives put at risk owing to a problem with their vehicle.

Yet the proposal, we are told, is a serious one offered up by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps as one way of helping people to cope with rising energy bills, soaring fuel bills, crippling food price hikes and inflationary cost rises across the board. Some families are out of pocket by thousands of pounds.

So how much will that really save? MOTs are widely available for just £19.99 and whilst the subsequent repair work - if any is needed - does come with additional charges, the repairs are not something that should be compromised. The repairs are done to protect life.

Few people disagree that the rise and rise in the cost of living, coupled with the hike in National Insurance tax, is hurting people. More and more of us are having to turn to food banks and with April and May set to be unseasonably cool, thousands more are going cold for fear of the unaffordable heating bill that will inevitably land on the doormat.

But, surely, logic tells all of us that the answer cannot possibly lie in reducing the safety checks on road vehicles. It is an ill-conceived idea, at best, that will save people pennies in their pockets but could cost them their lives on the roads.

More importantly, those hit hardest by these raids on their incomes will tell you they'd dream of being able to afford to run a car - many can't even afford to use public transport, never mind run their own car.

Mr Shapps, please perform a U-turn at the next safe junction for this is not a cul-de-sac we want to be taken down.