The UK may be on coronavirus lockdown, but if your car's MOT is due you will still have to get it tested... for now.

While the advice may change in the coming hours and days, the word from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, the body in charge of MOT tests, is that nothing has changed, at least for now.

A spokesman said: “People should stay at home and avoid travel unless absolutely essential. The only reasons you should leave your house are set out in the government guidance.

“The Department for Transport is urgently looking at MOT testing for cars, motorcycles and light vans in light of the current situation and will provide an update shortly. Annual tests for lorries, buses and trailers have already been suspended for up to three months.”

The spokesman also confirmed that garages are on the list of essential businesses which are still allowed to operate during the lockdown.

Last night the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, announced sweeping measures to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus COVID-19, the highly infectious disease causing a global pandemic.

Under measures announced by Mr Johnson, all shops selling non-essential goods have been told to close and people have been told not to leave their homes.

In an email sent yesterday before the Prime Minister's announcement, the DVSA told a worried customer: "I appreciate this is a difficult time for the whole country, at this moment in time there is no exemption or extension from MOT testing, and no contingency plan in place.

"If your vehicle MOT expires whilst you are in isolation, then you are only able to drive the vehicle directly to/from a pre-booked MOT test after midnight on the date of expiry of the current certificate. After that time the vehicle must not be kept on a public road until it is re-tested and taxed etc."