Hi Folks
I heard recently (not sure where) that 7.5t’s were going to be hit by legislation soon (Prolly EEC!) that would limit their length and speed. Speed being to 56mph.
On the length side a friend has said that for the agency he was driving a 25ft long 7.5t. But not being good with measurements and haven’t got a tape measure to hand so can’t say what the length of my normal truck is (which is a 7.5t) and that this would be made illegal by the new stuff
Correct/Incorrect? If so could any one point me to some links regarding this please?
Cheers, TIA
I was out in an Iveco 75E15 sleeper the other week with a 25’ curtainside fitted, dunno if it was legal or not but it was definitely a nightmare (no guts and a huuuge overhang ending about a foot or so off the floor)
on your origial question - current news is that limiters are to be fitted by law to all new veh’s over 3.5t from sometime next year - no references at the mo, I’ll have a look later
cheers
Jules
I think the length is 36 feet 6inches from front bumper to rear of truck for any rigid vehicle.
This is how it used to be, One of my first proper trucking jobs was caravan transport, I had a Fiat om■■?
We had to build them very light as they had to weigh less than 3 tons unladen for the low tax. When we took them to the public weighbridge we left some floorboards out, took the winch, toolkit and spare wheel off and emptied the fuel tanks.
Them little Fiats didnt need a limiter, they had a 4 cylinder one under the cab.
Thanks for the replies 
I’d appreciate any news links etc that would give this info that you could dig up
Cheers
I have revised my thinking on the length of a rigid, It must be Alzheimers seting in! 
So anyway,
I have revised my thinking on the length of a rigid, It must be Alzheimers seting in!
the speed limiter thing is covered here. dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/d … 023521.doc
Look for regulation Directive 2002/85/EC in a search engine for different pages
In general it is this:
From 1 January 2005 all new goods vehicles with a maximum mass over 3.5 tonnes will require to have a functioning speed limiter with the device set so that the speed of the vehicle may not exceed 90 kilometres per hour. Such vehicles registered before January 2005 will require to have a functioning speed limiter by 1 January 2007.
The length thing is here too:
Main Points
Max lengths:
12m rigid - 39.37feet
16.5m articulated provided sweep within 5.3m-12.5m envelope, otherwise 15.5m
18.75m for Drawbar
Exceptions exist
Max width 2.55m
2.3m for trailer if weight less than 3500kg
2.6m for refrigerated if walls at least 45mm
So by 2007 all vehicles over 3.5t will have a tacho and be limited to 56mph… That’ll encourage employers to get their drivers into larger trucks then so they carry more for their time… HMm.