Could anyone put me right on the use of tag axles.On most modern trucks these days they go down automatic when a large load goes on them, it is possible however to drive some vehicles with them up if the load is not that heavy.Whilst in a sainsburys rdc the other day I noticed a notice stating that no vehicle was to leave the yard even if it had part load no matter how small it was without the tag down.They said it was illegal to drive without it down
It can be very dangerous to drive with it down if you dont have a heavy load on the ones in our trucks are automatic so we just let them do their own thing , BUT if i start to get wheel spin i will lift it up as it could also cause skidding.
Some trucks have a 20 second half lift so you can do just that when leaving a junction.
If Sainsburys are making their drivers travel with a tag axle down when a vehicle is solo then their is an accident just waiting to happen.
itâs only illegal to drive with the axle up if you exceed the weight limit for the axles left on the road 
An operator of hundreds of trucks and they donât know what is legal and what isnât. 
No wonder rumours get started as many drivers would see that and assume, wrongly, that an operation the size of Sainsburys would know what they are taking about when in fact their transport people need a little re-education.
This has been tested on the courts and as Denis says the axle only needs toi be down when you reach the weight limit for the number of axles. For the purpose of the Road fund Licence an axle only needs to be there, it doesnât have to be in contact with the road surface so if you were taxed 3+3 provide the weight limit hasnât been reached you could run with 2, or even 3 axles up, and remain legal as far as the RFL is concerned.
Isnât there a question to do with brakes & the fact that the lifted axle doesnât have a brake which is operable also come into effect, re weight.
I donât know why, but some where Iâm sure I have heard of, or read that the police were trying to, or had tried to, prosecute on the grounds of brakes, but that it had not or was not going their way.
Never heard anything like that daxi. If the brakes on a 2+3 are deemed to be adequate what is the difference between that and a 3+3 with an axle up?
As I remember it was the fact that the brakes were fitted but not capable of working due to the axle being up, but I also seem to remember something about it being said that the vehicle was braked for a maximum load, thus when not loaded it was adequetly braked.
Also these axles are designed to be lifted, so if it is unsafe to do so why are they designed to do it ?.
so why do Sainsburyâs buy units with tagâs if they do not use them
Dafman:
so why do Sainsburyâs buy units with tagâs if they do not use them
What do you mean they dont use them?
When tag axles first came out or as far as i can remember they didnt have brakes at all.
I know this from experiance as i was driving solo just after passing my test and didnt know what one was and just touched the brake, only braking on the front wheels and spun and spun and spun,
Solo units have tendency to be a little skittish. I use to cover most of my driving hours in solo units, delivering them for a lease company & know from personnal exsperience that anything other than light use of the right foot can often result in a new & exciting driving exsperience if the road is anything other than dry.
I had some jobsworth policeman stop me and say I was using the truck untaxed & ânot in accordance with the construction and use rulesâ.
I asked him to show me where and how, until his mate told him not to be such a â â â â â â âŚ
I was pulling a tilt with a lift axle and a lift axle on the unit taxed at 38 tonne on 6 axles and that was why he said I was wrong. I would have loved to have gone to court with that one 
The Humber Bridge threw a paddy too, because I was pulling a trailer with 2 lifting axles behind a 4 wheeler (3 axles on the ground only and cheaper to cross than an Artic)