Your having a laugh ain't ya. I've bought a fair few cars including my series 3 that have had brand new mots only for me to discover some very serious issues. My series couldn't stay on its side of the road the steering was that bad, I had to pump the brakes to get it to slow down and there was that much play in a UJ, it broke on the way home. Mot means sod all. I had one car with a new mot that had an advisory for a number plate that was not perfect yet they missed the fact that the front NS indicator didn't work.
I think you've had shocking experiences with MOT inspectors that really should be considering a career change. I've bought many older vehicles in my 50+ years of motoring & found such a scenario very rare, so I remain a firm advocate of an annual test - what I would say though is the cost should be 'toned down' for those vehicles not requiring the number of checks (emissions etc.) that are continually being added to the schedule by European legislation.
