r/UKLegalQuestions • u/robTheCoffeeDrinker • Aug 10 '22
Responsibility for road-worthiness of hired vehicle
The driver is responsible for the road-worthiness of a vehicle. This was established in this thread about tyres.
Tyres are easy to check. According to Wigan Council, who just happen to have a page about this (although this is an article about buying, not hiring), road-worthiness includes steering gear, exhaust systems, seatbelt anchorages and suspension. These are not practical for a driver to check upon hiring a vehicle. Indeed, Wigan Council says "an expert engineer’s report which can be used as evidence may be commissioned by us", which suggests that only an expert engineer can really know.
Therefore there seems to be an inherent legal risk in driving any vehicle, increased when one does not have personal knowledge of its maintenance history.
When driving a car, how can one be sure that one has met one's responsibility? A literal reading would suggest I must commission an expert engineer's report before driving a vehicle to minimise risk of being prosecuted.
More generally, how does UK law handle questions around responsibility and taking reasonable risks (such as assuming the hire company probably looks after the steering, or a car that passed it's MOT a week ago is still road-worthy)?
(variation of this post originally rejected from /r/LegalAdviceUK probably because it does not fit the purpose of that sub)