What you have is a fussy tester who quite rightly sees a car that doesnt look like its had a penny spent on it in years and he has to sign it off to say its okay to use on the public highway, I know the mot is only a snapshot in time before anyone says.
Ive always said a clean car in an out, oil leaks wiped or brake cleaned off, fresh grease and the odd recent part shows the car is looked after and pretty much means a pass first time every time.
Did he mention the brake discs?

Old cars need looking after, old landrovers even more so.

That snapped shock bolt has so much rust on it I reckon its been like it for years!

You can still buy your mot certs if you know the right man and maybe the po knew such a man, just saying like.

I would say "proper" rather than "fussy". There's nothing there that the average tester wouldn't have picked up on.
Rust, however, is a slightly subjective area - the tester for this vehicle :

reckoned that the chassis was rusty - but that structural strength was NOT affected!!! VOSA disagree...

That’s pretty horrific. What’s the story behind that one?

"Its surprising that none of this has been flagged up before, because its not like it wasn't like this before I got it. Harsh Tester?
If anyone recommends a garage for MOT's in Bristol id be greatly appreciating, the guy today seemed a bit up his own arse."

Have to agree with the previous threads.
Why you thought that the vehicle would get through the MOT escapes me and to say that you think the tester was too harsh shows a lack of mechanical understanding. Clearly even the most basic of visual checks would have caused alarm bells to ring and to say that much of it must have been present for a while is no excuse (nor is the request to find an MOT testing station that may be more accommodating a good indicator to your desire to have a safe and roadworthy vehicle).

Happily most of the items are DIY fixable and could be cleared in a very short space of time.

Wire. If someone is happy to run a wire like that then their DIY skills are questionable to say the least and would immediately ring alarm bells with me, if they can do that with a simple wire what else might they have done?
Bulkhead. Yep, good old fashioned corrosion that needs cutting out and welding. Just remember, whatever rot you can see is just the tip of the iceberg and serious repair (and rust-proofing) will in all likelihood be required to ensure a long-term solution.
TRE. A lot of play is NOT usual for a Defender and saying that is the start of a slippery slope "they all do that...…", it is however cheap & easy to fix (and a regular pump of grease keeps them maintained for long life) however to ensure your steering & handling is good have the tracking checked & adjusted afterwards.
Front suspension corrosion. May look like surface rust but the base of the turret and the retaining ring looks to be seriously corroded and you can see laminations where it has blown. Cheap & easy to fix but should never have got that far. You won't know what the chassis mount is like until the turret is removed and expect fun getting it all undone.
Rear shock mounting. Nuff said! Easy fix though as long as everything comes apart ok.
Wheel bearing. Unless it has just come on (which could mean imminent failure) then it should have been picked up at a regular service. Inspect / adjust / replace as necessary, not difficult but hub-spanner required.
Exhaust. A MAJOR leak? Did you not hear it or see any tell-tail signs of soot when you went underneath to give it a once over or grease the props?

In future, a regular check (a service if you like?) will bring many of these items to light and allow you to fix them in your own time and not against a deadline. Give the underside of the vehicle a regular clean with a hosepipe and every now and again get underneath to give it a visual check and attack the grease-points. A touch of Waxoyl (or similar) will do wonders for keeping the rust at bay and make sure that when replacing bits (the spring seats, rear shock mounting etc) that you reassemble with liberal amounts of anti-seize, makes work in the future much easier.
Things like the wire running along the top of the engine scream bodge and any build-up of muck / rust / dirt encrusted oil & grease underneath shows lack of preparation, none of which would inspire confidence in the vehicle.

Fix it, learn from it and move on.
Half the fun of owning a LR is getting your hands dirty!!

I too have to agree with the other comments in that although a failure is never nice I think the tester was very fair here and I wouldn't hesitate in taking it back to him once you have the defects sorted. You may need to check the actual chassis behind the turret too to make sure that isn't holed.

Has he gone already
Bet hes on faceache now still looking for that elusive test station!

AdamD1 said:

That’s pretty horrific. What’s the story behind that one?

Click to expand...

Can't say too much at the moment. Suffice to say that the police, VOSA, and the garage staff had never seen any land rover crumple as badly as this one. They were, however, the innocent party.

I know D1’s not the safest but wow. Hope they were lucky enough to get out of it but looking at the state of that I guess it’s not that likely. Definitely enough to make me want to go and give mine a thorough check!