Ta gents, also thanks for the feedback.
Yeah, we've known each other for donkeys years, to the point I was round his buying some Omega parts a week or two after the MoT and I said "Oh, by the way, I never paid you for the MoT - We just got chatting and forgot!" his response was "Yeahhh, it's fine, I knew we'd square up eventually!" right gentleman, proper 'old school' mechanic, as well.
Mind you, now we live a couple of hours drive away I make sure I pay him on the day, now
To be honest unless it's physically
lethal he always gives me a gentlemanly heads up with anything, because he knows I'll do it asap. I always even bring up spare track rods, drop links and general other 'service' parts.
Will have a nosey at the Sachs/Boge. I was under there a matter of weeks ago replacing a rear wishbone (will do both eventually, as at 206k the rear bearings will be close to their natural end) and did make a point of looking, and saw no snapped bits, but that's why I'm glad we have MoTs (specifically
decent MoT-ers), even though some people see them as a curse and a waste of time.