I hold a Class C licence and drive a variety of vehicles for the Council who are my employer.
Sometimes I tow a trailer with a 7.5 Tonne GVW lorry - the trailer itself is quite large, Gross Weight 1.5 Tonnes approx.
There seems to be conflicting stories as to wether my entitlement covers me to undertake this function - the supervision say its perfectly legal to do so (well they would do wouldn’t they) but other drivers who have just started the CPC training have raised the question with the training organisation who have stated that this is not so.
Rather than go in all guns blazing I would appreciate the finer points of the law explained as I feel sure someone on here will have come across this before or will be suitably qualified to provide the correct information on current legislation.
If you have a C1+E without the 107 code on your licence then you are legal for 7.5 vehicle + 1.5 trailer
If you have C1+E with a 107 code then you are not legal for the above as the two GVWs added together must not exceed 8.250kgs
If you only have C1 as well as C then the max trailer GVW weight is 750kgs or 0.75 tonnes
Subcategory C1 vehicles may be coupled with a trailer up to 750kgs MAM allowing a combination of up to 8.25 tonnes MAM. But unlike category B, the 750kgs MAM trailer weight limit is an absolute limit.
Many get the B (car) towing requirements mixed up with the LGV (C1 and C) requirements so that is where the confusion is likely to come from
If you have a C1+E without the 107 code on your licence then you are legal for 7.5 vehicle + 1.5 trailer
If you have C1+E with a 107 code then you are not legal for the above as the two GVWs added together must not exceed 8.250kgs
If you only have C1 as well as C then the max trailer GVW weight is 750kgs or 0.75 tonnes
Subcategory C1 vehicles may be coupled with a trailer up to 750kgs MAM allowing a combination of up to 8.25 tonnes MAM. But unlike category B, the 750kgs MAM trailer weight limit is an absolute limit.
Many get the B (car) towing requirements mixed up with the LGV (C1 and C) requirements so that is where the confusion is likely to come from
I,ve got a full C+E but on my C1+E part I have that code 107 when I asked the training school doing my driver CPC they said it doesn’t matter because the C+E overides it anyway. Whats your view ROG ?
Big Bear:
I,ve got a full C+E but on my C1+E part I have that code 107 when I asked the training school doing my driver CPC they said it doesn’t matter because the C+E overides it anyway.
It does, the C+E allows you to pull trailers in excess of the limits imposed by the B and C1 categories. I also have the 107 code next to the C1E part on my licence.
Big Bear:
I,ve got a full C+E but on my C1+E part I have that code 107 when I asked the training school doing my driver CPC they said it doesn’t matter because the C+E overides it anyway.
The reason you have the 107 code is because you have the C1E category through grandfather rights which would remain in place had you not got the CE category.
The CE category does over-ride the 107 code on the C1E category, but the code 107 would come into play if for any reason you did not keep up the entitlement to drive category CE.
For instance if you did not take the medical that you need for the cat CE entitlement the code 107 for category C1E would come into play, hence the need for the 107 code to remain on the license.
