Vehicles older than 3 years need an annual MOT certificate, by law in the UK. There have also been changes to the annual MOT recently.
MOT failures are now put into different categories of failure, from minor to dangerous. A ‘dangerous’ fail would mean that your vehicle would be deemed too dangerous to even drive it away from the MOT centre, if it poses a risk to the driver or other road users. Risking driving it away from the test centre could mean a £2500 fine and points on your license.
The message is clear. The purpose of the MOT test is to ensure the vehicle meets the minimum safety level required by law.