Is having no rear seatbelts a MOT fail in a 1980 golf?

Needing some advice - I have got a golf GLS 1.3 1980 5 door which is booked into have its MOT on Monday, however, I have recently had some major body work done at one of the rear seatbelt mounting points (basically it had rusted away) consequently the seatbelt bolt was not salvagable. Getting a new bolt was on my list of things to do, unfortunately said list was forgot about and I was just wondering if I need to be running around this weekend trying to get a new bolt or if it is okay not having rear seatbelts in the back for the MOT on a 1980 golf.
I believe at the time of buying the car the rear seatbelts were an add on for my car and were not in the car from factory. I have read that if this is the case then it is allowed?

Thanks in advance for any help on the matter.

Cheers
James

Cars registered upto the 1st of april 1981 no rear seat belt are required mate..

http://www.motuk.co.uk/manual_510.htm

If in doubt, remove the rear bench.

No seat means no seat belts are required to be present…

Cheers guys for the replies. Much appreciated  

Mines a 1983 and never failed an MOT for not having rear seatbelts…

Cheers guys for posting - just to confirm the golf passed without the rear seatbelts but with the bench still in situ.  
Alfie that is interesting about your '83 Golf…

I put my '89 cabby in for MOT back in July and it passed without rear seat belts…

I only realised after a friend got in the back a few days after it passed and asked if there were seat belts…  When messing about with the seats I'd folded the bench up and the lap belts must've fallen underneath!

For those people who's cars passed there MOT when they shouldn't have, do you not wonder what else your MOT inspector missed? Lets hope nothing!  I hope there is no one in the back of your cars if you get involved in an accident. Your insurance etc. will all be invalid!

Safety first kids.

Exactly why I have taken my back seats out and put a roll cage in it's place

smudger said

Exactly why I have taken my back seats out and put a roll cage in it's place

 

The law quite clearly states:

"Drivers and adult front seat passengers in cars must wear a seat belt, unless they have a medical exemption certificate. Adults traveling in the rear of a car must also use seat belts, if they are fitted. 

I have no worries about what my Mot tester has missed because I know he's not a crook and understands the rules. 

If they are not fitted they don't test them. The only reason they would fail is if they are fitted and don't work correctly.

As far as safety goes. If I were to ever take passengers, I'd look at getting belts fitted. 

Alfie said

The law quite clearly states:

"Drivers and adult front seat passengers in cars must wear a seat belt, unless they have a medical exemption certificate. Adults traveling in the rear of a car must also use seat belts, if they are fitted. 

I have no worries about what my Mot tester has missed because I know he's not a crook and understands the rules. 

If they are not fitted they don't test them. The only reason they would fail is if they are fitted and don't work correctly.

As far as safety goes. If I were to ever take passengers, I'd look at getting belts fitted. 

I understand what your saying and I'm sure your tester is no crook.

Unfortunately regarding the law of seat belts you are incorrect. Cars registered up to the 1st of April 1981 do not require seat belts and you can carry passengers. After that date, cars should have them fitted regardless of carrying passengers or not. The above date is when it became standard to be fitted to all new cars being produced after that date.

I'm afraid checking things like this is part of my job in the Automotive Industry. Testers can get in a lot of trouble for not knowing the correct procedures for an MOT. Things like this are picked up on when we do mystery shops at different garages. We deliberately make sure the car will fail MOT standards and see if it gets picked up. From simple things like a side light bulb not working to more trivial things like the above. Not knowing which things are standard on an older car. That's why they may be introducing Specialist MOT testing stations and testers for cars registered before or after a certain date.

Found the following information which made me think otherwise, but happy to stand correct by someone in the profession.

http://www.ukmot.com/5-1.asp section 1 and 2 says:




Pretty much says that there is no requirement for a forward facing rear seat belt.

Also says the same thing on http://www.motuk.co.uk/manual_510.htm

http://www.motuk.co.uk/images/seatbelt2.pdf - the flow chart says, 1st used before 1st of april 1987 (D, B and C)

D= Driver's & specified front passenger seat: A 3 point belt

 B = Other forward facing front passenger seats (where fitted): None

C = Rear seats: none

 

Not trying to be a smart backside or purposely objective, just making sure I know the facts as I will come up against it again early next year.

I wasn't trying to be smart either. Its just amazing some of the things that are on the internet.

People always use the net for info and unfortunately its now flooded with what people THINK is right and Porn!!!
When checking legal stuff, just check with the laws. Its so much easier.

Thats cool, just a bit of friendly debate

According to what i've read the law states (so again, happy to be proven wrong lol):


1981, a law requiring front seat
occupants to wear seatbelts was introduced - Lord Nugent of Guildford, the then President of ROSPA managing to amend the Transport Act at the last minute to take in the amendment. This move did not have government support, but the timing left the government having to accept
the change if the whole Bill was not to fail.

1987
Rear seat belts had to be fitted in all new cars in Britain

Reference the AA and Dorset road safety among others….

http://www.theaa.com/public_affairs/reports/aa-seat-belt-report.pdf

http://www.dorsetroadsafe.org.uk/received-a-ticket/seat-belts/seat-belts-the-law

You need to check with VOSA and the Ministry Of Transport.

There the ones that regulate it. They can change there standards at any time if it increases public safety.

Ok thanks, just to satisfy my own curiosity, I've gone to the Gov website for VOSA/ mot information and downloaded the official VOSA Class IV - Car and Light Commercial Vehicle Testing Manual

http://www.motinfo.gov.uk/htdocs/index.htm

Direct link to the manual :

http://www.motinfo.gov.uk/htdocs/m4_int.zip


As above in my post above, but confirmed in the official (and current) VOSA documentation

The flow chart  in 5.1 states that Passenger Vehicles, Motor Caravans & Ambulances with up to Eight Passengers, 1st used before 1st of april 1987

Seat Belt Requirements: (D, B and C)

D= Driver's & specified front passenger seat: A 3 point belt

 B = Other forward facing front passenger seats (where fitted): None

C = Rear seats: none

Apart from the fact that it was never manufactured with them. Surely the above info is correct and I therefore legally do not need rear seat belts in my car?

I always thought a car registered before 1986 didn't need rear seatbelts. I asked the mot guys at work they confirmed this but also mentioned that if the car was fitted with rear belts before this date and the rear seat was in place then they would fail it if the rear belts where missing.

I have a 1982 golf van converted with a rear bench fitted but no rear seat belts which has mot I'm pretty sure in the last 30 years this would have been picked up if it needed rear belts 

There seems to be a lot of difference in MOT station too with this sort of thing. Some don't really care and others are really anal about it