Why A23 driving shows up on a Norbury car's windscreen
The A23 London Road is Norbury's high street and its main road, a red route with buses, lorries and delivery vans moving in short bursts. Following heavy vehicles means grit and small stones thrown at the windscreen, and chips build up over the years. A chip or crack larger than 10mm in the zone directly in front of the driver, or larger than 40mm elsewhere in the area swept by the wipers, is an MOT fail. Small chips can often be repaired before they spread, so it's worth dealing with them early.
Wipers and washers are part of the test too, and they get plenty of use on a road where spray from buses never lets up in wet weather. Blades that smear or leave streaks, or a washer jet that's blocked or aimed over the roof, can fail. So can an empty washer bottle, which is the most avoidable failure of all. If the car fails on something simple like this, it's usually fixed within minutes.
Norbury's quieter roads bring their own wear. Northborough Road and the streets around Norbury Park and Pollards Hill Park are 20mph and heavily parked, so there's a lot of short-trip driving and slow manoeuvring. Around Hermitage Bridge, Norbury Brook can rise quickly after heavy rain; if you've driven through standing water and a warning light has come on since, get it diagnosed before the test, because an illuminated warning light is a fail. Any repair is quoted in writing, and the partial retest within 10 working days is free if the car stays with us.
The quickest route is usually down the A23 to Thornton Heath Pond and the Lombard roundabout, then west along the A236 across Mitcham Common and left down Carshalton Road, about 5.5 miles. Both roundabouts queue at peak times, so a mid-morning slot is often easier. Repairs we carry out come with a 3-month workmanship warranty.