Whilst I 100% believe this situation can happen and people working around cars are sometimes very sexist, it's total BS.

ALL the friends I have that work on cars, be it for work or for pleasure, do their own MOT. Not like literally do it yourself, only certified shops and people can do it. But you take it to the guy you know. Beforehand you know what needs to be done, cause everyone knows the regulations and what to look out for. Then when that's done, you take it to the guy, give him a case of beers and you have your MOT right there. If the chief mechanic wants to go get MOT for their car, she would take it to a shop where she knows everyone and everyone will know her.

My father in law used to be a mechanic (now retired) and my brother in law is an engineer. They always get mad at me if I let some local shop work on my car. They say just bring it to us, we can do it for you. But they are about an hour and a half away from me and anything we do on my car involves me figuring out on my driveway exactly what needs to be done, taking everything apart and taking pictures and then buying the components. Then driving to them once I get the components in and spend all day drinking, talking and if I'm lucky we get the car done as well. It's a lot of fun, but sometimes I just want to get the car fixed without thinking about it. A local mechanic I know lives 2 streets over, so he picks up my car and uses it to go to work. Fixes what needs to be fixed and drops off the car when he gets home. My father in law says just drop off the car at his place and drive his car for a while, so he can work on my car. But his car is a restored vintage Mercedes and it's his baby, I absolutely hate driving in that because I'm scared I will break something. I'm a pretty good driver and I know how to handle old cars, and I haven't damaged it yet, but driving that car gets my butt clenched all the way.