I think I am just confused by all the guidelines and I suspect many are in the same boat. I really am never sure what is allowed and what shouldn't be any more. I thought there was some guideline that suggested against journey's that weren't essential. So currently there is no such thing as an essential journey or a non-essential journey any more? Was there ever?
I had to get my XJ MOT'd last week but really wasn't sure if I should be doing this or not. However if I didn't then the car wouldn't have had a live MOT and would be then deemed to be unroadworthy. Am I worrying too much and should just get on doing stuff as normal?
There is a lot of confusion about what is a law, instruction, rule, guideline or moral obligation, and they have changed a lot, and they are not perfectly definitive. (As it happens, I don't think this is because Boris is an evil toff idiot, but because the situation actually
is complicated and fluid, and you really can't have totally clear rules for everything.)
I haven't been following this very closely, but I think the current
rule is "work from home if you can" and
guideline is "don't make unnecessary journeys" (or use unnecessary apostrophes). But what constitutes "if you can" or "unnecessary" seems to be left to Piers Morgan to decide. So I just try to think about what is sensible and low risk, and do that. Basically I ask myself, could I explain this action to my neighbours or a policeman (or to my sister, who is very at-risk and shielding)?
If I derived any significant part of my livelihood from test driving cars, I think would be happy to cautiously carry on, unless the government explicitly forbade it, or paid me not to do it. If it was just my hobby, I might give it a pause.
For very specific things like an MOT, you can usually look it up:
MOT test centres will remain open during the third lockdown, but book up early because many are still dealing with a backlog of vehicles
www.whatcar.com
Guidance for living safely with respiratory infections, including coronavirus (COVID-19).
www.gov.uk