More than 140 drivers a day are caught in the UK without a valid MOT, with Scottish drivers the most likely to forget to renew their test certificate.

Research What Car? has found that 210,886 drivers – equivalent to 144 a day – were caught driving without a valid MOT certificate between 2015 and 2018.

Police Scotland caught 55,000 drivers in the four-year period – an average of 37 drivers a day. The Metropolitan Police in London caught the second highest number of drivers, while West Yorkshire recorded the third highest.

The top 10 highest regions for MOT offenders, 2015-18

RegionDrivers caught without a valid MOT

Scotland 55,000

London 40,462

West Yorkshire 12,022

Merseyside 10,782

Essex 9,685

Sussex 6,735

Hampshire 5,675

Hertfordshire 5,549

South Yorkshire 5,409

West Mercia 5,261

The research also found drivers are more likely to fail to renew their MOT in the winter months from November to February, than in the summer between May and August. The winter months saw 17.3% more drivers, on average, fined for not having a valid MOT certificate.

“Forgetting to renew your MOT certificate is an easy mistake for many drivers to make, but something that clearly happens too often,” Steve Huntingford, the Editor of What Car?, said. “There is a free service from the UK Government to send drivers an MOT reminder, and the onus is on motorists to make sure theirs is up to date. Drivers aren’t just risking their own lives, but those of other road users.”

Driving without an MOT will result in either a £100 non-endorsable Fixed Penalty Notice, or a Traffic Offence Report. Accumulatively, police forces across the UK have earned £20.81 million from drivers without a valid MOT certificate in the last four years.