Hi all ,
can someone please clarify something - imagine you have a tractor unit registered & taxed private & use it as such , are you legally allowed to carry your business ( unlimited ) name on the cab ? , i have heard of someone being pulled by vosa & given the royal you know what ! , something about advertising etc ,- een down to the name of signwriter who done the job - yet i see no problem with transits & 7 1/2 tonners etc running around sporting names & sponsors of motor sports etc .
also am i correct in thinking that again for use above NO CPC is required - admittedly this then precludes you from jumping an anyones truck & driving for them - right or wrong ■■
You can legally put your company name on the side of the truck, regardless of which class it is taxed under. VOSA may well give you a tug, but as long as you are operating within the rules (i.e. not for hire or reward) there is sod all they can do about it!
Also, no CPC (either driver or operator) is required for private use, as you are not operating ‘for hire or reward’.
thanks - thats what i had thought , didn’t know what the circumstances were when this particular guy got pulled , all i do know is he got a mate of mine a little flustered .
It depends weather you mean you’re operating you vehicle under a restricted licence or as a private vehicle.
If it’s a private vehicle VOSA might want to know why you have the name of a company on the side of it and if you are using it in any sort of connection with that companies business.
I heard from friend who runs a small race team doing various racing series in the UK that VOSA have been known to wait outside circuits and pull race transporters that don’t have an O licence and try and find out if being used by a private team or a commercial operation.
I believe they even picked up on sponsor stickers and driver names on the truck, on the priciple that if a driver was paying to drive the car or a company offered goods and services for a sticker on the truck then it must be commercial and need an O licence.
Saying that I doubt VOSA lie in wait very often, as most meeting are on weekends and that means somebody has to allow overtime.
Running a race transporter is a slightly different situation.
You ‘could’ run a race transporter as a private HGV and without an O-license, but there would be heavy restrictions on what you could do (and how you could run the team) before you came under the scope of o-licensing rules. You would have to run the operation as a ‘hobby’ and finance the running costs entirely out of your own pocket in order to remain out of the scope of a commercial operation.
The minute the race team gains any form of sponsorship to contribute to the running costs of the ‘team’ (whether in the form of cash or goods supplied in return for advertising, or even a driver paying for his seat) it becomes a commercial operation, and would therefore requre an O-license and could no longer operate the vehicle as a private HGV, nor (i believe) could you tax it as such. This would apply even if the ‘team’ remained unincorporated (i.e. not a limited company) even just a couple of mates messing around at the weekend!
Ok ,
positive feed back really appreciated , from my angle i’m looking to tow our own steam engines around the country to shows etc for which ( hopefully we will recieve reasonable out of pocket expenses ) - this rarely covers the fuel let alone anything else ! , so after that i’m a sole trader who’s vehicle is Privatley owned - not part of the business i run - albeit thetrailer is owned by the company . now whats to stop me putting my own company name on the side - after all at the end of the day i am the company 
, now to promote a ltd co on a private unit - well maybe thats touching on the raw side . now there is one solution - put our own name on the unit & put the unlimited " my own co " name on the trailer , what do you think ■■? .
FH16 I was a bit unsure how the truck was being used, which is why I covered restricted O licence, and how race teams fall foul of the law. I know that many still think putting Not for Hire or Reward allows them to run without an O licence even if it they are obviously a business.
However now Scourfield has explained the situation as far as I understand the law, I reckon he’s okay as it only for hobby use, (I think the sign writers name seemed a bit over zealous, unless it’s MMTM, it’ll be the dealers name on the tax disc holder next. 
)
scourfield:
Ok ,
positive feed back really appreciated , from my angle i’m looking to tow our own steam engines around the country to shows etc for which ( hopefully we will recieve reasonable out of pocket expenses ) - this rarely covers the fuel let alone anything else ! , so after that i’m a sole trader who’s vehicle is Privatley owned - not part of the business i run - albeit thetrailer is owned by the company . now whats to stop me putting my own company name on the side - after all at the end of the day i am the company
It doesn’t matter who’s name (limited company or not) is on the side of the unit , or the trailer for that matter - it is, quite simply, none of VOSA’s business what you do or do not paint/signwrite on the side of your wagon. It also matters not who the trailer legally belongs to.
So long as the goods on the trailer are not being carried for hire or reward, the vehicle is roadworthy and you are licensed to drive it then there is sod all VOSA can do about it. They can certainly query it, but so long as you are operating within the rules they will have to go and whistle.