According to figures recently released by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, 49% of vans fail their first MOT.

What this means is that by the time they are four years old, almost half of all vans have been sufficiently neglected to leave them in an unsafe and illegal condition. Yet most are still in daily use.

Perhaps the most depressing thing about these statistics is that the vast majority of the faults which lead to failure are minor, easily fixable and would be picked up by any driver who took five minutes to inspect his or her van.

According to Volkswagen, which has analysed the data, the most common defects are:

• Lights (faulty bulbs): 32.2%
• Brake faults/wear: 24.8%
• Suspension faults/wear: 16.1%
• Faulty mirrors, windscreen wipers, lack of washer fluid, illegal number plates: 8.0%
• Excessive wear or damage to tyres: 4.8%

In total, these account for 86% of all failures. While suspension and (sometimes) brake problems are not always obvious to the driver, they should be picked up in routine servicing.

All of the other problems should really be picked up by drivers when they undertake daily or weekly checks of their vehicle.

For van owners, this isn’t just a safety and compliance issue: it could be costing money. Poorly-maintained vans can be worth up to £400 less when sold and are more likely to breakdown or require additional work doing when they are eventually serviced.

There’s also the risk that a poorly-maintained vehicle will be involved in a collision. If, for example, illegally-worn tyres are found to have contributed to a collision, then the operator of the van could face legal issues.