Apologies for being curt; I was rather pressed for time. It was persistence that was key. I ascertained the name of the dealer from whom the owner before this one bought the car. Worked out that they ‘normally’ carry out a pre-delivery inspection and service and give the car a fresh MOT. Assumed the MOT and service were carried out at the same garage. Found the name of the MOT centre by asking the vendor to enter his V5C reference no. on the GOV site. Called them only to be told that their digital records only stretch back 3 years, but that they could trawl back through the manual records which extend back further. To my surprise the nice lady at the garage called me later in the day saying that she had found it and did in fact have a digital copy which she duly emailed across to me. Hoorah! HTH.