I know in Northern Ireland recently there was a problem with MOT equipment, so that most test centres were closed and it was impossible to get booked in at the few that were open. The decision was made in that case to temporarily withdraw the requirement for MOTs. (this was for cars - no idea whether bikes were affected by this or not).

@StephenC - it caught me out first time I read it too.

This and Boris’ speech were both really ambiguous. Jumping about between subjects instead of clear and concise, one thing at a time.

Not sure if some of it is intentional or just inability to convey a message mixed with a failure to proof read beforehand and/or see it from the point of view of somebody who wasn’t in the proposal meeting. Lots of people were left wondering if their business should open or they should turn up for work - did “essential” refer to the work or to travel being essential for work that wasn’t essential? etc etc

So far the zombie apocalypse is nowhere near as much fun as I was lead to believe.

It seems to be a moot point -

Garages near me are not taking on MOTs except for NHS and “essential” workers/vehicles.
Car needs new tyres to pass MOT, tyre shops shut so can’t get tyres.

I rather think that what turns out to be 'essential' is going to rather wider than the Govt think (if Govt thinking is not a contradiction in terms).

My yamaha dealer phoned me up this morning,he explained that they are classed as a garage so could stay open and were phoning around customers who had their machines booked in for work over the next few weeks,they asked me if i was still prepared to bring the Tmax in i said yes,they still had a bike for me to to go home on,so they said they would get back to me.I received a phone call about an hour later and most of the customers had said they weren’t prepared to venture out to get their bikes serviced/repaired,so therefore the shop was closing until the all clear comes from BoJo.

They have my new stand ready to fit,so Max will have to wait,its nowhere the milage for service anyway and in theory I shouldn’t be putting any more miles on it

Stephen

The government has said that garages can stay open as these are essential so I don't see what the problem is with bike shops staying open, they are garages too. Tyre places can open I believe as these are necessary service stations. If a tyre place is closed it's because the owners are worried and/or misinformed about what to do. MOT stations can open as per government instructions from what I have seen on tv.

I'm using the lock down time to hyper clean the car and bike. I'm detail cleaning the car underneath. Got it over the pit in my garage at the moment for a once over with the wax injection gun too. Mind you, it's only 18 months old. I'll then be doing the gardening etc. In theory, we should all have very well maintained cars, bikes and houses in a few weeks.

There is a strange inconsistency here. It seems that vehicle garages (though not showrooms) can stay open - but it would appear to be illegal to travel to them as its not your once-a-day exercise outing or food shopping! Maybe the definition is for shopping for 'essentials' , and having your scooter fixed sounds essential to me!
The York Yamaha dealer is still open, but the situation is unclear as at least one mechanic is self-isolating, so I've postponed having the new stand fitted - its obviously not of critical importance.

It's strange how so many of the essential work categories happen to be badly paid.
I had an email from Crescent Suzuki saying they were still open, followed swiftly by another saying their showrooms were closing but they'd concentrate any repair work in the Verwood workshopl. (which is a handy ten miles out of town, but at least not Southampton!)

Like MrGrumpy says,the fitting of the new stand is of not vital importance,i probably wont be using Max for a while anyway,Max is 2 years old this month and was serviced last March,at about 4K miles,its only got 8,300 miles on it now so well under the scheduled milage.

Stephen

Regarding gloves at filling-stations: It has been said that the virus is being passed on very readily at petrol pumps which is why garages are providing disposable gloves for customers at every pump.