I applied to get my licence raised from 2 vehicles and 2 trailers to 8 vehicles and 2 trailers, they asked me to show I had about £26000 in bank or available, they didnt help when I called to ask of ways to show these funds.
I was told by a freind they accept credit cards as proof, my wife had £20000 worth of cards in her ■■■■■ but we had to go to a solicitor to prepare documents to say that she would agree to let the business have access to her cards.
We now apply for every card that drops through the door, got about £35000 worth of them, 12 months after the last application to raise my vehicle limit we need to do it all again, its all good fun!
When I had to show financial standing. I sold my car which was still on finance,. My brothers mate who owned a garage, bought it and I got the cheque and put it in the bank.
As soon as I left the bank I got a mini statement from the cashpoint and posted it to Harehills House
I then went back and bought my car back with a different finance company and paid the garage a few quid for the paperwork and search fees.
Well needs must 
It is retardation of the highest order. Financial standing should not matter, it is the roadworthiness of the vehicle and compliance with tacho and H&S rules which should count. Bank has just halved my overdraft limit without telling me, ■■■■■■■■■ Still, chin up.
Spaceman wrote:
bought a 4x4 which I occasionally use to tow a 3.5T car trailer for hire/reward.
So I had to fit a tacho in the 4x4 (big money), declare it on my O’Licence and display a green O’Disc in the windscreen.
Not sure if this uses up my margin or not. I only exceed 3.5T when the trailer is hooked up to the 4x4.
Not quite right. If the permitted gross weight of the combination exceeds3 500kg, then a tacho will have to installed and used. But only when the trailer is being towed. Doesn’t matter if the trailer is empty or loaded, ‘trailer on’ = tacho required. On those days where you do some other work with the 4x4 in the morning and tow the trailer in the afternoon, you are required to keep a record for the whole day; either use the tacho all day or make a manual record on the reverse of the chart. Remember, driving a vehicle not subject to EC Regs is DUTY, not driving.
You shouldn’t have to put your 4x4 on your O-Licence. If it matches the description of a dual purpose vehicle;
a vehicle with an UNLADEN weight not exceeding 2 040kg which is constructed or adapted to carry both passengers and goods and is either;
A: so constructed so that all its’ wheels can be power driven or,
B: constructed with a permanent roof and behind the drivers seat is a row of transverse seats with backrests for two or more, in proscibed positions and windows of minimum sizes.
Road Vehicles (C&U) Regs 1078/86 Secn 3(2)
Most 4x4’s and estate cars match this description, then it is specifically exempt from Operator Licensing, along with any trailer which it draws,
Schedule 3, Reg 33, Part 1.2, Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995
You ought to get the 4x4 off your licence because whilst it is there as an Authorised vehicle it is removing your ‘margin.’
North Surrey Haulage wrote;
I seem to remember somthing about only having to do this if you were pulling a trailer whose unladen weight was more than 1020kgs
Slightly different way of looking at it, but an exemption may still apply;
A small goods vehicle is exempt;
a drawbar outfit, if the sum of the relevent plated weights of both drawing vehicle and trailer (disregarding a trailer not over 1 020kg unladen) is not over 3.5 tonnes or if either vehicle is not plated, the sum of the unladen weights is not over 1 525kg
Hopefully, this makes some sense!! 
Kerb weight of the Landcruiser is 2650kg.
Not sure if this is the same as unladed weight (includes driver - too many pies - and fuel ?).
Either way, its still above the exemtion threshold.
Kerb weight for the new Discovery is around 2500 kg.
Its only these big SUV’s that can tow 3500 kg (I don’t have any kids to take to school !!)
my navara had to have a tacho fitted due to a maximum autherised mass of nearly 6 tonne
plod are getting VERY keen on pullin us single car shifters up
i dont have to have the o lisence though not sure why
the only problem is ,the navara is also my own personnel transport so when trailer is not attatched i dont need the tacho,how do i prove the missing millage was done without the trailer
mezzzz1211 said:
my navara had to have a tacho fitted due to a maximum autherised mass of nearly 6 tonne
plod are getting VERY keen on pullin us single car shifters up
i dont have to have the o lisence though not sure why
the only problem is ,the navara is also my own personnel transport so when trailer is not attatched i dont need the tacho,how do i prove the missing millage was done without the trailer
to answer the points in turn;
The permitted train weight of the combination does not come into it. The Courts have ruled that if the permitted gross weight of the drawing unit PLUS the permitted gross weight of the trailer exceeds 3 500 kg then tacho is required.
The police are getting very keen about trailers (as are some Ministry) due to a Court case from 2003 which cleared the ‘misunderstandings’ regarding the definition of what constituted a trailer.
An O icence is not required as the Navara is a Dual Purpose Vehicle, earlier post details that DP Vehicles and their trailers are exempt Operator Licensing.
With regard to ‘missing mileage.’ In Court the onus is on the prosecution to prove ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ that you were using the vehicle with the trailer and therefore required to use / keep tachograph records. You as the defandant have to prove nothing. If the Police had CCTV footage of you driving with the trailer attached (loaded or not matters not) then if you couldn’t produce charts you have a problem. If they look at charts, note ‘missing kms’ then unless they can prove you were towing the trailer then there is no case to answer
mezzzz1211
PM your details to me and I’ll give you a shout when I have any single units to move from your area.
CHANGES TO THE MINIMUM FINANCIAL STANDING LEVELS REQUIRED BY HOLDERS OF HGV AND PSV OPERATORS’ LICENCES
The Department for Transport has today given notice of revisions to the minimum levels of financial backing required by holders of goods and PSV operators’ licences. This is an EU requirement.
This will affect holders of standard national, standard international and restricted licences. The most significant change is that the holders of standard national licences will now have to meet the same levels of financial standing as standard international licence holders. The original Directive had contained a derogation allowing for lower levels for national only operators. The Department for Transport has now concluded that under EU legislation the financial standing minimum should be the same for both national and international operators.
The Traffic Commissioners retain their discretion to set the financial standing levels for restricted licence holders. They propose to increase this amount in line with increases for standard international licence holders.
The revised figures are set out below and are based on the Euro exchange rate on 1 October. They will come into force on 1 January 2005 and will remain in place for five years. (Previously published rates are in brackets).
HGV & PSV
Standard International Licences
a. First Vehicle
£6,200
(£5,400)
b. Each additional vehicle
£3,400
(£3,000)
Standard National Licences
a. First vehicle
£6,200
(£4,300)
b. Each additional vehicle
£3,400
(£2,400)
Restricted Licences
a. First vehicle
£3,100
(£2,700)
b. Each additional vehicle
£1,700
(£1,500)
Notes to editors
-
The users of goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes and public service vehicles must hold an operator’s licence. The operator licensing system is administered by the statutorily independent Traffic Commissioners.
-
Licence holders must satisfy the Traffic Commissioner that they have available sufficient finances to safely maintain their vehicles and to properly administer the business. The required levels are set in Euros by EU Directive 96/26/EC, as amended by Directive 98/76/EC.
-
Non-Euro participating Member States are required to review the value of the Euro in their currencies every five years. The exchange rates to be applied are those on the first working day of October and come into effect from 1 January of the following year.
or click here: vosa.gov.uk/vosa/newsevents/ … levels.htm
ty
which means there is no advantage having a SN licence !! next time I change/ renew mine I shall go SI 
Let’s say if you have one truck and are applying for an extra 4, do you need to show £13600 or £19800?
5 vehicles - so how do you get to 13,600.
Isn’t this 6,200 + 4 x 3,400
Extra vehicles spaceman so 4 X £3,400. You Don’t include the one you already have from what NSH says.
The swines want £19800 in my account after me thinking it was the lower. I can get that in the account but they will probably reject the application on the timing of the credit to the account and I will have to start all over again…or just give up and stick with one which is probably what I will do as I haven’t the patience for VOSA. I don’t have a problem with them being totally down on the safety and tacho law aspect but a bit of flexibility when you make a small honest mistake would be good… 
Silver_Surfer:
…or just give up and stick with one which is probably what I will do
I thought about getting more motors but I cant see it’s worth the hassle for the amount of extraincome it will generate.
You’ve got
Sick pay
holiday pay
national insurance contributions
paye
wtd
wages
reliabilty of drivers
extra insurance costs
more paperwork (invoicing etc)
breakdowns
etc
etc
for what maybe an extra £100 or 2
I dont think it’s worth the aggro 
Not quite right. If the permitted gross weight of the combination exceeds3 500kg, then a tacho will have to installed and used. But only when the trailer is being towed. Doesn’t matter if the trailer is empty or loaded, ‘trailer on’ = tacho required. On those days where you do some other work with the 4x4 in the morning and tow the trailer in the afternoon, you are required to keep a record for the whole day; either use the tacho all day or make a manual record on the reverse of the chart. Remember, driving a vehicle not subject to EC Regs is DUTY, not driving.
If the work done in the 4x4 in the morning is for hire or reqard, then don’t forget you come under the UK domestic driving regs, in which case you can only drive for 10 hours per day. This time has to be taken into account later in the day when you put a tacho in, as you cannot exceed your total number of hours driving time, which is the combinatiuon of time spent driving under UK and EU regs. You also need to keep a record of it.
ho hum decorating season again