I must have been one of the lucky ones Peter. Although I only kept it a few months and sold it on to my friend in South Africa so it never got to the MOT emissions testing issue here. In South Africa emissions are not exactly very high up on any agenda with regards to cars and they only ever do their very basic 'MOT' testing at the change of any ownership so if somebody owners a car for 20-25 years it will never be tested and even if it is sold on it's about as basic checking to make sure that a 4 wheeled car still has 4 wheels fitted.
