Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government is taking to tackle motorists using (a) illegal exhausts and (b) other disallowed modifications.
The Government has taken a number of recent steps to reduce the use of illegal vehicle modifications, including illegal exhausts. As of 20 May 2018, vehicles will fail their MOT where evidence is found that emissions control systems have been tampered with. As announced in the Clear Air Strategy, new legislation will make tampering with an emissions control system an offence.
DVSA has also introduced roadside checks for emissions cheat devices in Heavy Goods Vehicles, with 388 devices found in 10,237 vehicles searched by the end of February 2018. Where devices are found, drivers and operators are given 10 days to fix the emissions system or face a £300 fine and having the vehicle taken off the road (with vehicles being immediately taken off the road for repeat offenders).