I’m a Truck Net Virgin and am looking to get some advice from the pros.
I’m in the process of buying a second hand double decker bus, which I will then convert into a shop. I think I’ve found the bus, I’ve found the person who is going to convert it for me and I’ve got an excellent location to set-up the shop. But, I’m really struggling to work out how to move the bus from where I am buying it to where it needs to be converted, and then on to its final destination.
The seats will be removed and the DVLA have said they will classify it as a ‘Mobile Project Vehicle’, it needs to be driven from garage to garage, and there’s a good chance the bus won’t have an MOT. As far as I understand, if the bus isn’t insured, a driver with trade plates will be able to move it from one location to the other, but it’s been a nightmare trying to find anyone willing to do this.
Is there any advice about how I could move the bus, or where I could find a driver with trade plates who could move it for me for a good sum of money and their additional travel fees?
Everything is doable, might help If you give a rough location and destination for the said vehicle. You might even try to see if a recovery firm might do it if not to far. Good luck and keep us updated
It needs to be booked in for Mot while it is moved .You could cancel mot just before it gets there cough cough
.i had trade plates and had cars stopped with no mot ,Nothing ever said ,But if it was involved in any accident problems soon arise .However ,
Ask your local resto firms for quotes let them deal with logistics .It will cost you ,But beats stressing about it all…
How old is the vehicle? if it is over 40 years old and still a bus then it can be taxed as historic and will not require an MOT. It does however still need to be roadworthy, which more or less means no visible defects detectable at the roadside. That means legal tyres, lights which work, brakes which work, a silencer, horn,indicators etc which work and nothing hanging off etc.
Harry Monk:
I’d be getting it towed by a wrecker, and I’d be telling the recovery firm that for a good price I could be flexible about when they did the job.
Anything towed with wheels on the ground has to be roadworthy and mot and insured. So it would need to go on a low loader. Many firms/people moving vehicles by suspended tow fall foul of the rules moving knackered cars.
The only vehicle that legally can moved on a dolly or by suspended tow are broken down vehicles.
Harry Monk:
I’d be getting it towed by a wrecker, and I’d be telling the recovery firm that for a good price I could be flexible about when they did the job.
Anything towed with wheels on the ground has to be roadworthy and mot and isuresd. So it would need to go on a low loader. Many firms/people moving vehicles by suspended tow fall foul of the rules moving knackered cars.
The only vehicle that legally can moved on a dolly or by suspended tow and broken down vehicles.
Ah, ok, thanks.
Personally then, I’d probably drive it from A to B myself in the middle of the night when the Filth were all in bed.
Do what Harry says. If anyone asks, just say it’s a Harry Potter bus.
On a more serious note…make sure your shop installation doesn’t prevent any internal access hatches being taken up…there are often bits of bus mechanicals that can’t be reached from underneath
It’s fine on a suspended tow with a heavy wrecker don’t know if there’s an actual exemption or just everyone does it they all go that way when the bus companies scrap them after they’ve been sat in the yard for ages and stripped for spares or just moved between depots.
Own Account Driver:
It’s fine on a suspended tow with a heavy wrecker don’t know if there’s an actual exemption or just everyone does it they all go that way when the bus companies scrap them after they’ve been sat in the yard for ages and stripped for spares or just moved between depots.
I think you will find if you look into it anything that has wheels in contact with ground being towed must have insurance and mot hence only broken down vehicles can legally be towed like that.
Whether people and or companies do it with vehicles that are not broken down and don’t have mot or insurance is irrelevant.
Own Account Driver:
It’s fine on a suspended tow with a heavy wrecker don’t know if there’s an actual exemption or just everyone does it they all go that way when the bus companies scrap them after they’ve been sat in the yard for ages and stripped for spares or just moved between depots.
I think you will find if you look into it anything that has wheels in contact with ground being towed must have insurance and mot hence only broken down vehicles can legally be towed like that.
Whether people and or companies do it with vehicles that are not broken down and don’t have mot or insurance is irrelevant.
No it’s fine, I couldn’t remember when I originally posted, it’s because they are being moved to a place of repair there’s no limit on how many times they can be moved to different places of repair there’s no stipulation on the repair being related to roadworthiness so they can just be wreckered to a paint shop and back for instance. My point is if he contacts anyone with a heavy wrecker they will happily move it no dramas and the legalities are their problem.
It’s certainly the case that a car being towed with a tow rope with a driver needs tax/ins/mot but if it has a properly braked motorhome a-frame fitted, for example, it does not need anything because it becomes classified as a trailer. Possibly on a heavy wrecker they plumb the brakes in so it becomes classified as a towed trailer.
Having said that they certainly don’t on the rigids that tow cars and vans to the salvage auctions there’s hundreds of those all fitted with underlifts and they all get driven on C licences, which is grey because it was always seen as a no-no with a 7.5t recovery truck and spec lift because they said the trailer was not under 750kg despite half the tow vehicle’s mass being transferred to the truck. The salvage trucks also spec lift back all sorts of knackered stuff that’s been sat for ages with no checking of tax or mot. I don’t know if it is black and white legal but the authorities show no interest in stopping or fining them and they happily spend big sums having spec lifts fitted to their trucks. I think it might be ok because they’re being towed to be scrapped (I know you can legally actually drive to ports for export without MOT or tax). It may well be like the place of repair it doesn’t matter it’s a link in the chain to being totally scrapped.
To be honest the letter of the law is neither here nor there it is only down to what is actually enforced. Would I tow a trailer commercially with a 4x4 without a tacho or drive a truck without an o-licence? No because they’re enforced.
Would I drive on the motorway at 80mph or tow a car with no mot on a spec lift? Yes because they’re not enforced.
m_attt:
Trade plates cover Road Fund License, nothing else. So has to have mot, unless going for prebooked mot.
Garage trade plates cover no MOT as well. Not all trade plates are the same.
NO trade plates cover mot, I have a set, I have the only form you use to apply for them. They cover RFL only. Clearly states vehicle must have mot and insuance. Unless its mot exempt. As in new car, etc
Traders use them on cars without mot all the time though ,Unless there is an accident anpr do not check mot .So you will only get problems if there is a problem with an actual stop and reg check by plod .
The question is, Take the risk or not? .It is up to your budget or your nerve ,I would just drive it on insurance and trade plates myself
But i remember the days of no mot no insurance ,baldy tyres and a slap on the wrist off plod
Beetlejuice:
Unless there is an accident anpr do not check mot .So you will only get problems if there is a problem with an actual stop and reg check by plod .
Beetlejuice:
Unless there is an accident anpr do not check mot .So you will only get problems if there is a problem with an actual stop and reg check by plod .
Oh, yes they do!
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The ANPR do not send fines through the post for no mot ! .I am not arguing the toss for the sake of it pal.My best mate is an insurance repair shop .I know the craic .
Just to try to help the OP out ,My pal also has a very big collection of military vehicles ferrets ,Champs etc ,We move these around to shows all over the uk .
They do not need mots ,But some of the bigger civilian stuff need mots,I have driven them without mot and never had a problem whatso ever .Do not over think it pal lol ,Or listen to the drama queens
Where abouts are you ? He restores classics ,Trucks military gear etc ,He may be able to help .
Coventry Based …
