Just curious, but, does this entitle you to drive and artic unit by itself?
Providing its less than 7.5 t 
I always thought you needed cat c to drive the unit and the e was the trailer wasn’t it Chris Eubank that got his class c to drive that lorry unit round to shops 
Jx
Noworries:
Providing its less than 7.5 t
Correct if that is the plated weight - not actual weight
Are you sure Rog, if so has this changed, about 15 years ago we use to collect new units from docks on car licence 
Mind you it was on trade plates, 5th wheel bolted on backwards
Noworries:
Providing its less than 7.5 t
Almost correct, you can drive an artic unit on a cat C1 license as long as the units gross weight doesn’t exceed 7.5 tonnes 
Noworries:
Are you sure Rog, if so has this changed, about 15 years ago we use to collect new units from docks on car licenceMind you it was on trade plates, 5th wheel bolted on backwards
Were the units already plated with the weights?
The UK did have some weird rules before 1997 !!
Fairly sure they were not already plated as we picked them up from docks to deliver to main dealer, assume plating is done along with pdi before delivery to customer ?
Weird rules yes, we used to drive coach chassis without bodies fitted, wearing a crash helmet, to deliver them to coachbuilders, don’t see them about like that anymore. probably not legal now.
Noworries:
Weird rules yes, we used to drive coach chassis without bodies fitted, wearing a crash helmet, to deliver them to coachbuilders, don’t see them about like that anymore. probably not legal now.
Those coach chassis and new units from the docks were classed as incomplete motor vehicles so could be driven on an ordinary licence. It’s where the ever popular driver’s myth that you must remove the 5th wheel to drive a unit on a Cat C licence, or to drive one on a Class 2 or 3 back in the day, comes from.
ROG:
Noworries:
Are you sure Rog, if so has this changed, about 15 years ago we use to collect new units from docks on car licenceMind you it was on trade plates, 5th wheel bolted on backwards
Were the units already plated with the weights?
Of course they weren’t, they’d only just been imported.
Fairly sure the 5th wheel was only put on backwards to indicate vehicle was not pdi so unready for delivery to customer as i can see not other reason to put it the other way. 
do you know if its still legal to drive coach chassis with no body as I only ever see then on lowloaders nowadays
Coffeeholic:
ROG:
Noworries:
Are you sure Rog, if so has this changed, about 15 years ago we use to collect new units from docks on car licenceMind you it was on trade plates, 5th wheel bolted on backwards
Were the units already plated with the weights?
Of course they weren’t, they’d only just been imported.
Then that maybe why different rules apply which is why I asked
I’m not sure what bolting the fifth wheel on backwards was supposed to achieve, I’m sure you could still hook up to a trailer if you wanted to.
ROG:
Coffeeholic:
ROG:
Noworries:
Are you sure Rog, if so has this changed, about 15 years ago we use to collect new units from docks on car licenceMind you it was on trade plates, 5th wheel bolted on backwards
Were the units already plated with the weights?
Of course they weren’t, they’d only just been imported.
Then that maybe why different rules apply which is why I asked
I know why you asked but if you thought about it then it is obvious they wouldn’t be plated before they even arrive at the dealer. How would they even know what the customer would want them plated at for instance. All the units I operated were plated at 31 tonnes and they would have come of the same ship as units that were possibly going to be plated at 25, 28, 34 or 38 tonnes for instance.
yay, got my first debate going lol, go me! juust a thought that came into my head, have we reached a conclusion? lol
j4ck0:
yay, got my first debate going lol, go me! juust a thought that came into my head, have we reached a conclusion? lol
Yes, if it is has a maximum authorised mass of less than 7.5t then you can drive it on a C1.
A C1 is for goods vehicles which have a MAM that exceeds 3.5t but does not exceed 7.5t. A solo tractor unit is a goods vehicle and isn’t pulling a trailer so no Cat E required.
Yes, you could plate a tractor unit as a 7.5 tonne vehicle and drive it on a pre-1997 car licence, but it would have to be a 4x2 as all 6x2s weigh more than 7.5 tonnes, and most 4x2s would need to have some components removed to get under the required weight, a 4x2 ERF would probably scrape under the weight limit because of the plastic cab.
Noworries:
do you know if its still legal to drive coach chassis with no body as I only ever see then on lowloaders nowadays
I’m fairly sure health and safety would have put an end to it regardless of licence entitlements 
Coffeeholic:
A solo tractor unit is a goods vehicle
The key point which people overlook in these type of threads.