OMG so the wife got a tug yesterday by an officer she was in a 4x4 pick up with trailer on back with a tyre in.
Officer “have you passed your test to tow a trailer ?”
Wife " Thank you for the flattery but I’m married"
Officer “errr”
Wife “In what year did towing regs come in ? even my son didn’t need to take a test”
Officer “Oh sorry, I thought it rather unusual to see a lady towing a trailer with such a large tyre in the back”
Wife " Ok so Im unusaual can I go now?"
Officer “Whats the tyre for?”
Wife " a truck from work is down the garage and the mechanic said there is a tyre on 3mm had we got a spare"
Officer apparently was now in his element, " Well, firstly taking a tyre for the benefit of the company means your using this vehicle for business purposes so you should have business insurance, secondly the vehicle should be fitted with a tacho and thirdly come the 9th September you will need a dcpc to be able to drive this vehicle"
Wife “Are you sure ?”
Officer “yes”
Wife “I will just phone my husband he’ll love your interpretation of legislation”
Me " So officer why have you pulled my wife"
Officer “well as I suspected this vehicle is being used for business purposes and …”
Me " let me stop you wife & vehicle both insured for business purposes hire & reward, vehicle doesn’t need tacho as regulations relate to actual weight not permissible weight as vehicle trailer & tyre are total below 3500Kgs no tacho required or dcpc, so may I now ask again why have you pulle dmy wife"
Officer “well sir I think your wrong and we have just been on a course informing us of the new regulations and which vehicles fall within them”
Let my wife go on her way immediately or I will sue you personally for negligence, take us to court if you believe I’m wrong.
OMG so the police have been trained in order to enforce the regs but they haven’t got a clue, this will cause so much grief.
I hope your all tucked up in bed, Im pumping rainwater from a blocked drain better than the normal stuff I pump, oh well 1/2 hour and Ill be done
Muckspreader:
OMG so the wife got a tug yesterday by an officer she was in a 4x4 pick up with trailer on back with a tyre in.
Officer “have you passed your test to tow a trailer ?”
Wife " Thank you for the flattery but I’m married"
Officer “errr”
Wife “In what year did towing regs come in ? even my son didn’t need to take a test”
Officer “Oh sorry, I thought it rather unusual to see a lady towing a trailer with such a large tyre in the back”
Wife " Ok so Im unusaual can I go now?"
Officer “Whats the tyre for?”
Wife " a truck from work is down the garage and the mechanic said there is a tyre on 3mm had we got a spare"
Officer apparently was now in his element, " Well, firstly taking a tyre for the benefit of the company means your using this vehicle for business purposes so you should have business insurance, secondly the vehicle should be fitted with a tacho and thirdly come the 9th September you will need a dcpc to be able to drive this vehicle"
Wife “Are you sure ?”
Officer “yes”
Wife “I will just phone my husband he’ll love your interpretation of legislation”
Me " So officer why have you pulled my wife"
Officer “well as I suspected this vehicle is being used for business purposes and …”
Me " let me stop you wife & vehicle both insured for business purposes hire & reward, vehicle doesn’t need tacho as regulations relate to actual weight not permissible weight as vehicle trailer & tyre are total below 3500Kgs no tacho required or dcpc, so may I now ask again why have you pulle dmy wife"
Officer “well sir I think your wrong and we have just been on a course informing us of the new regulations and which vehicles fall within them” Let my wife go on her way immediately or I will sue you personally for negligence, take us to court if you believe I’m wrong.
OMG so the police have been trained in order to enforce the regs but they haven’t got a clue, this will cause so much grief.
I hope your all tucked up in bed, Im pumping rainwater from a blocked drain better than the normal stuff I pump, oh well 1/2 hour and Ill be done
The story was nearly believable until I got to that bit highlighted.
Very grey area for towing and tachograph in these circumstances. You should demand it’s taken to a weighbridge to ascertain the combination is over 3.5t before they proceed but they may not agree.
3.5t less the GVW of the pickup is the max weight of the trailer and goods you can safely tow without a tacho and even the plated weight of the trailer is a grey area as there have been varying legal outcomes. If GVW of tow vehicle and gross weight on the plate of the trailer exceed 3.5t together you are in the laps of the gods really.
However, she would actually be exempt if within 50km of base as it was carrying material and equipment for use in the course of her work.
Seeing as Toyota LandCruiser Amazons are 3.2 tonnes on their own, I wonder how owners are going to get on with towing anything… Or Discos, at about 2.7 tonnes.
Could someone please post a link to the regs?
Own Account Driver:
Very grey area for towing and tachograph in these circumstances. You should demand it’s taken to a weighbridge to ascertain the combination is over 3.5t before they proceed but they may not agree.
3.5t less the GVW of the pickup is the max weight of the trailer and goods you can safely tow without a tacho and even the plated weight of the trailer is a grey area as there have been varying legal outcomes. If GVW of tow vehicle and gross weight on the plate of the trailer exceed 3.5t together you are in the laps of the gods really.
However, she would actually be exempt if within 50km of base as it was carrying material and equipment for use in the course of her work.
The law is clear - total of the plated MAM weights determines whether tacho is needed or not - unless an exemption applies
B+E licence is legally needed if the total of the plated MAM weights exceeds 3500 kg
Business insurance needed for what she was doing
Deffo no DCPC as the vehicle is not over 3500 kg GVW
Laws on driver licencing and EU regs NEVER go on actual weights
Own Account Driver:
Very grey area for towing and tachograph in these circumstances. You should demand it’s taken to a weighbridge to ascertain the combination is over 3.5t before they proceed but they may not agree.
3.5t less the GVW of the pickup is the max weight of the trailer and goods you can safely tow without a tacho and even the plated weight of the trailer is a grey area as there have been varying legal outcomes. If GVW of tow vehicle and gross weight on the plate of the trailer exceed 3.5t together you are in the laps of the gods really.
However, she would actually be exempt if within 50km of base as it was carrying material and equipment for use in the course of her work.
The law is clear - total of the plated MAM weights determines whether tacho is needed or not - unless an exemption applies
B+E licence is legally needed if the total of the plated MAM weights exceeds 3500 kg
Business insurance needed for what she was doing
Deffo no DCPC as the vehicle is not over 3500 kg GVW
Laws on driver licencing and EU regs NEVER go on actual weights
Unfortunately not there has been a recent successful court appeal arguing the actual weight of the tow vehicle and trailer combination at the time was under 3.5t.
Obviously ordinarily it is permissible weight as, for example, a 7.5t lorry might weigh less than 3.5t unladen but that doesn’t mean the tacho can be ripped out or it can be driven without a card so I am not sure how a court has actually arrived at that interpretation but they did. I have a feeling the case involves a 4x4 private car and not a commercial vehicle tow vehicle which may be why the appeal was successful.
I’m interested in the 50km rule can’t find anything on that.
good comment about the 7.5t ripping tacho out never thought of it like that.
Left hand down next time your pulled and they are talking rubbish, educate them in what is correct then ask to leave if they don’t want to let you go then they are acting on their own judgement where negligence then comes into it, there have been loads of cases of negligence claims lately so I’m guessing you mention as I did negligence and they’ll soon back down.
To clarify for you I will ask next week when I’m at the annual west Midlands policemans charity ball
