Took my car for an MOT today and it failed on DBT Park Brake Efficiency 13%

Rear rear parking brake recording little or no effort [3.7.B.6a]

And I'm a little suspicious about this, based on the fact that the parking brake has been holding the car perfectly on steep hills up until today and now since getting the car back after the MOT its barely even noticeable that its on, and now wont even hold the car while in drive or reverse, this may turn out to be a long story ....

Purchased my car just over 2 years ago with 6+ months MOT, few months before my first MOT was due last year I changed the rear discs and followed the procedure for setting up the non EPB shoes (with the toothed wheel adjuster) Noticed the HB wasn't very effective and found the procedure for setting up EPB whereby it works out the maximum dynamic force to apply and did this procedure - HB worked perfectly ever since and wasnt an issue on my first MOT

I took my car for its MOT (2013) to my local 4x4 specialist who are top notch and who I've used before but due to workload they asked the garage next door to do the MOT on their behalf.

It failed on 'Corroded brake pipe' however, this was corrected and retested and passed.

Got car back absolutely filthy inside with so much oil in the drivers mat I had to wash it, scrub various mud marks off the inside footwell and it was obvious somebody had been messing with the DVD changer and various other gadgets in the car.

not too happy about this - and partly due to the fact I was going on holiday immediately after I decided to keep quiet about this and as it wasn't my specialists fault not make an issue of it.

I'm convinced my 'on its last legs battery' was finished off by them also as in the proceeding week while on holiday I started having tons of electrical issues, I suspect they drained the battery and finally finished it off - cant prove this tho and had to change the battery the following week.

After speaking to a few workmates about this sub-contracted garage the feedback I got was "They seem to have a running theme with corroded brake pipe failure, my daughters car had the same and I just polished them with wet and dry and got it retested"

Having done work recently on the park heater I could see the 3 existing brake pipes are in good order.

took car in today for MOT only to find specialist has again booked it in to be done with the garage next door, I started contemplating cancelling at this point due to the previous years experience but decided to go ahead anyway - now wish I hadn't.

Car failed with the park brake efficiency warning above and with advisory on corroded brake pipe again.

drove the car home and although I cant prove anything I'm CERTAIN my HB has been tinkered with, I make it a habit of when stopping at lights or in traffic I drop it out of gear and put the HB on, I know it was working perfectly as recent a few days ago when I stopped at lights on a hill - now the damn thing just rolls backwards on hills.

Again there is no way I can prove anything has been done to the car to make it fail but I have a seriously strong suspicion of foul play, I did tell my specialist I would not be taking it back for a retest with them and informed them of the state of the car the previous visit.

Gonna run the bedding in procedure again and see if I can return them to full functionality.

£52 down the drain and slightly more suspicious of an already dodgy garage.

Apologies if this has come across as a rant but I'm pretty of about the whole thing.

There's an official appeals procedure, but to be honest, having looked at it for an incident I had a few years ago, it didn't seem worth the effort.
You could take it somewhere else and see what they report, but if your PB has been "knobled", it'll still fail.

You have my sympathies, but it's your word against theirs unfortunately. Got - 2017 SDV8 Autobiography in Loire Blue
Had- 2008 TDV8 Vogue SE in Java black
Had - 2007 S/C in Stornoway Grey

Yea exactly, trying not to get wound up over it .... gonna have to remedy it myself now and get it retested but defiantly will NOT be using them.

Discussing on the phone the issue with the mechanic at my specialist I did contemplate driving it off, running the EPB adjustment procedure and returning it for a retest today but decided I dont want them touching my car anymore.

The more I think about it the more convinced I'm becoming - very occasionally and as recent as about 3 weeks ago just before pulling away from starting up I engage reverse or forwards gear, disengage the epb but accidentally dont push the lever all the way so it actually stays on and when I release the foot brake the car wont automatically roll forwards or backwards under engine power as it would do if the HB was off - this signals to me before I press the accelerator that I've accidentally not taken the EPB off - now when I do it it will roll under its own steam but feel like the brake is slipping.

Have to say I'm slightly Miffed about this garage.

You should always go with your gut instinct. You had a bad feeling about the garage and you proved yourself correct! Previously..
Vogue SE TD6
Defender 90 2.4
Defender 110 TD5
Vogue 3.5 EFI

Yep - you live and learn.

Isn't the PB tested by application of the brake whilst the car is in motion (not on a rolling road) with a deceleration meter sat in the vehicle...could that have caused a failure?..ie the application of the PB whilst moving has stressed something rather than when its applied when stationary. GONE 2010 Facelifted 3.6 TDV8 - Stornoway Grey + 22" Overfinch Olympus
HAVE 1999 Discovery 2 GS 4.0 V8 - Silver - Off Road Toy
GONE 2013 L405 4.4 SDV8 Vogue. Black with Silver roofline and 22" s
HAVE 2015 Jaguar XF.

Katash, up our way there is a MOT war going on re testing prices with £25 now being the norm....however there is always an issue and unfortunately corroded brake pipe/pipes seems to crop up a hell of a lot, again, no proof, but definitely a whiff of something smelly

possibly, but in the past when I've done this accidentally its created an EPB fault on the dash, I will get my IIDtool out later and see if that has happened.

Yea I know the steel pipes on RR are notorious for corrosion, last one that failed was front passenger (shortest) admittedly I only saw the replaced pipe but all others looked perfectly fine at the time, strange 1 would corrode and not the others in close proximity.

This won't help your predicament I'm afraid - but to re iterate a point stressed before.
Get your MOT carried out at a workshop run by your County Council.
It will be full cost but will be carried out correctly with common sense applied.
There is no such thing as a cheap MOT -

 Where do you go after one of these . . . ?

Funnily enough thats what my mrs has suggested.

I always stay at the garage when any of my cars have their MOT's. Just don't trust them, since I caught a mechanic about to go for a 'test drive' in one of my Lotus, was interesting listening to the mechanic and garage manager explain which part of the MOT they were carrying out.

I just use places like halfrauds, budget, kwikfit, etc. They know if they fail anything they will not be fixing it, so tend to get pretty honest service and I get my car back after an hour 56 TDV8 Vogue SE
9 Freelanders, 2x 2002 TD4ES, 2001 TD4, 2002 1.8GS, 2000 XEDI, 2x 2000 1.8ES, 2004 1.8 & 2000 1.8 GS (rolled)
91 Lotus Carlton (sold)
90 Lotus Elan (BRG)

I would second Andy_J's recommendation about using a large "chain" or at least informing the garage that under no circumstances will they be receiving any remedial work - they will just do the MoT. It's amazing how few faults will be found then.

Although in my opinion almost all garages are crooks (on offence intended to anyone who runs one on here!) as are insurance companies but that's a different rant.

After trying lots and lots of garages there are very few that I would trust - luckily the one I trust the most is 10 minutes walk from home, Challenger 4x4 in Tongham. They were superb when I used them for the 110 but haven't yet taken the FF to them although I suspect the next service will be.

In Switzerland they're all run by the local Canton. While some can be pedantic there's never any hint of corruption at all because they're not looking for work. It's about £40 a go, but it isn't every year.

Here they are every two years and they aren't carried out by garages but by authorised testing stations. They do not do any work on vehicles other than the test. John
2008 Stornoway Grey 3.6 Tdv8 Vogue
2005 TD6 Java Black Vogue - Written off!!
GAP iiD BT
2003 Discovery TD5 Auto, Nanocom Evolution - gone to a new home!
MasseyFerguson 152 - No electronics!! - Sold

Sad to hear this crap is still going on. Glad I don't have to deal with it here (well the 5.0 still needs to be done in the UK, fingers crossed).

In New Zealand it is also done by independent authorized "state run" stations, called MOT stations. So no funny business (in one of the least corrupt countries in the world, that should not be surprising). Since that is likely going to be our next place of residence, I'm smiling . MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!