Wheel Nut:
Could this be the 50 click rule Rog?
I checked with VOSA GV 262-02 page 11 - nope
howatsi:
The hire company will probably ask you to prove that you are hiring the vehicle for non commercial use, this is to stop the cowboys using trucks for commercial gain with no operators licence! A letter from the solicitors confirming the house move should be sufficient, you may want your mate to hire the vehicle in his name as it’s his house move. And no you don’t need to use the tacho.
Most hire companies would get you to sign a declarlation form stating you are not using the vehicle for a commercial purpose or
have a box which you sign on the rental agreement for that purpose.
Rog,
you will not find the hire company / lease company moving empty vehicles between depot and customer in legislation, that would be too easy. It comes from something called the ‘Eurolease Decision,’ that was published in June 2008 or thereabouts.
A Commission Decision is a document outlining how those that wrote the rules expect it to be applied. Shame that they didn’t write the rule in an unambiguous way, but then the lawyers wouldn’t make a living 
. At least this way it saves waiting for a court ruling, which could take years, although, in reality, there is nothing to stop a case going to court anyway. The only people that may interpret the regulations that the Legislature enact are the Judiciary, if I recall my American Government classes correctly and in this instance their legal system is the same as ours.
Regarding the movement of unloaded vehicles between hire company premises and customer the decision declared this was beyond the scope of EU drivers hour rules, provided that the driver didn’t additionally drive laden vehicles. The bit that everybody conveniently forgets is the words ‘local journey.’ So, Leicester to Coalville may be regarded as ‘local,’ but Leicester to Warrington would not and therefore that would be EU rules applicable. (Note; this is my interpretation).
The same exemption would apply to taking an unladen vehicle to a local Test Station and taking a vehicle (unladen) from customer to garage for service (and return) all to be local journeys.
Markywuk,
just because a vehicle is kitted out with a tow bar doesn’t mean that a tacho has to be fitted. Indeed if a trailer is attached, the tacho may not have to be fitted or used if it is fitted. It depends upon what purpose the vehicle is being used for on each journey. A hire vehicle could be totally legal in not having a tacho fitted in a morning when used by one customer. In the afternoon, when hired to a different customer the tacho may not be required at all. The law is written in black and white, it’s the interpretation that is in shades of grey.
geebee45:
Regarding the movement of unloaded vehicles between hire company premises and customer the decision declared this was beyond the scope of EU drivers hour rules, provided that the driver didn’t additionally drive laden vehicles. The bit that everybody conveniently forgets is the words ‘local journey.’ So, Leicester to Coalville may be regarded as ‘local,’ but Leicester to Warrington would not and therefore that would be EU rules applicable. (Note; this is my interpretation).
Thanks for that geebee45.
It would have been nice for them to put that as an exemption in the regs though !!
rocky 7:
A thought occured to me today. I am going to hire a 7.5 tonner to do a removal for my mate.
I have a class one and a digi card so ther will be no problem. my question is ,
If someone who has a 7.5 tonne licence on grandfather rights but does not have a digi card because he is not a driver by trade. how does he go on if he hires a brand new truck with only a digital tacho??one for you Rog.
It is my belief that if you are hiring a 7.5 tonner in order to do a house move or other non hire and reward purpose that you are exempt from tacho rules and therefore need either the circular chart or digi-card. Certainly, when I hired a 7.5 to do a house move the hirer told me not to worry about tacho’s cos it was only for me not profit.
Sorry Rog for not replying sooner - fortunately managed a couple of weeks off & away from my laptop completely…
Geebee covered everything re written down legislation etc & as you quite rightly say Geebee - law is black & white - it is all in the interpretation - incidentally Rog re management get out - we equipped all of our drivers with digi cards - all of our depots with download equipment & even sent 4 of us (myself included) to be trained as digi tacho instructors (RTITB) - we had to be ready for it with our fleet size - because our HGV fleet is rarely older than 3 years we now have 90% fleet with Digi tachos fitted - caused huge problems initially with multi national companies not able to hire vehicles with digi because they were not set up etc…
Mark
Many years ago when I was 18 I drove a 7.5 puddle jumper for Blackpool Pleasure Beach to Scotland…with the print for the on coming season. I was not told to use a tacho nor about breaks and therefore did not use tacho never took the breaks and didn’t use the mode switch either 
My Question is "What would have happened if the ministry had pulled me 
"
I did have the correct category on licence and I will tell you, I will never forget that drive