DVLA licence categories and Commercial towing.

[Nos4r2]

For reference here's the licence categories on Pdf for anyone interested.
You need a tacho fitted and an operators licence for anything used commercially where the train weight is over 3500kg-see this link page 10.

[CJL]

Just found this on the Highways Agency's website - http://www.highways.gov.uk/knowledge/16293.aspx

Worth a look.

You can download the "Fit to tow" video here http://www.gttowing.co.uk/about_trailers_fittotow.php

Chris

[Jono Garton]

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

You need a tacho fitted and an operators licence for anything used commercially where the train weight is over 3500kg-see this link page 10.

In my opinion not strictly true, You need a tacho fitted and an operators licence for anything used for carriage of goods (for gain and reward) where the train weight is over 3500kg.

Jono

[Dry_Doc]

I've been looking into this recently: http://rib.net/forum/showthread.php?t=28857

The upshot seems to be that you don't need an o-licence if:

The tow vehicle is less than 3500Kg and the trailer ULW is less than 1020Kg - Even if the GTW exceeds 3500Kg, the trailer is classed as a 'small' trailer and is ignored for the purposes of calculating weights.
Or:

The tow vehicle is a 'dual purpose vehicle (e.g. Land Rovers) & their trailers'.


This info is from here: http://www.vosa.gov.uk/vosacorp/repo...74%2009-08.pdf pages 30-32

[Tim M]

I'm still really confused about this, after a conversation with someone who got pulled over and fined for not having a tacho, and seeing a thing on motorway cops or what ever its called on BBC1 where a bloke got pulled over and told he should have a tacho for towing a car on a trailer with a 110.

Do you need a tacho if you are towing boats on trailers around for your business (that is, boats owned by the business, not customers boats) and you are using your own privately owed car?

[Nos4r2]

Originally Posted by Tim M

I'm still really confused about this, after a conversation with someone who got pulled over and fined for not having a tacho, and seeing a thing on motorway cops or what ever its called on BBC1 where a bloke got pulled over and told he should have a tacho for towing a car on a trailer with a 110.

Do you need a tacho if you are towing boats on trailers around for your business (that is, boats owned by the business, not customers boats) and you are using your own privately owed car?

The police don't have a bloody clue either from what you've just said.


Somehow I doubt if it's your own private car would come into it as it's being used for business purposes. You're more likely to run into insurance issues if you try and use that as a mitigating factor (unless your insurance covers it).
I certainly wouldn't say that as you're likely to find them ringing your insurance company to check. If you get a jobsworth they will do this. I've seen it done.

[Tim M]

I'm not worried about the insurance side of things; I have business insurance on the car and they are aware it's used for towing.

My question was more to do with the tacho side of things; do I need one or not

[Nos4r2]

Originally Posted by Tim M

I'm not worried about the insurance side of things; I have business insurance on the car and they are aware it's used for towing.

My question was more to do with the tacho side of things; do I need one or not

After a bit of reading I'm fairly sure you don't.
You don't want to go down the 'it's my private car' route though as if it's insured for business use and you're in the process of using it to tow a boat owned by your business it's for all intents and purposes a vehicle in business use.

The updated version of the Vosa PDF is attached to this post-look at the title and the bottom of page 34.
Basically as far as I understand it , if you need a tacho, you need an O-licence and vice versa.
I'd print it out and carry with you-all 60+ pages of it.

[Dry_Doc]

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

Basically as far as I understand it , if you need a tacho, you need an O-licence and vice versa.

Not true, see my earlier post in the thread.
For o-licence purposes, if the trailer ULW is less than 1020kg, it's ignored when calculating the GTW of the combo (p32, GV74). Also, passenger cars (including 'dual purpose' vehicles - i.e. 4x4s with more than 3 seats) under 3.5t are not subject to o-licences (p30/31, GV74)
This isn't the case for tachos, if the GTW of the tow vehicle and the trailer is over 3.5t (plated weight NOT the actual weight), and the tow vehicle is a goods vehicle, then you need a tacho - unless you fall under certain exemptions/derogations. It's all about as clear as mud.

This is useful: http://www.ntta.co.uk/law/tachographs/tachographs.aspx

[Tim M]

I'm still confused.

If I'm towing one of my charter RIBs to the slipway, is that "commercial carriage of goods"? (If yes, it would seem I need a tacho.)