Put him through his trailer categories this year.
He now has BE entitlement.
If we wish him to drive a van towing a trailer, would he be able to drive up to the vehicle GVW of 5000 Kgs? The vehicle is on our O licence.
The loaded trailer would not weigh more than 1500 Kgs,
He has got a digital drivers card ready to use for the Tachograph installed in the said van, also he is booked for 35 hours CPC training.
Would this then allow him to drive this van and trailer.
Might be worth putting him through Cat C in the future in case things change and you end up getting a larger vehicle. Do Cat C even if you’re only going to get a 7.5 tonner as the cost and course/test is exactly the same for both, in most cases the Cat C training vehicles are usually identical to the C1 ones other than having larger wheels to allow them to be uprated to 12 tonnes.
Are you sure it’s the 35hrs DCPC training he needs to do and not just modules 2 and 4 as someone doing it for the first time with no grandfather rights?
If it’s 35hrs book him with a decent company, not just the cheapest. Suggest:
EU Drivers Hours
Economic and bad weather driving
Load Security
First Aid
darren.ovenden:
Driver passed car licence in 2015.
Put him through his trailer categories this year.
He now has BE entitlement.
If we wish him to drive a van towing a trailer, would he be able to drive up to the vehicle GVW of 5000 Kgs? The vehicle is on our O licence.
The loaded trailer would not weigh more than 1500 Kgs,
He has got a digital drivers card ready to use for the Tachograph installed in the said van, also he is booked for 35 hours CPC training.
Would this then allow him to drive this van and trailer.
Or is he required to pass C1?
Needs C1+E to use a 5000kg GVW vehicle with a trailer over 750kg plated MAM
B+E means max vehicle GVW of 3500kg with max trailer of 3500 MAM
darren.ovenden:
Driver passed car licence in 2015.
Put him through his trailer categories this year.
He now has BE entitlement.
If we wish him to drive a van towing a trailer, would he be able to drive up to the vehicle GVW of 5000 Kgs? The vehicle is on our O licence. The loaded trailer would not weigh more than 1500 Kgs,
He has got a digital drivers card ready to use for the Tachograph installed in the said van, also he is booked for 35 hours CPC training.
Would this then allow him to drive this van and trailer.
Or is he required to pass C1?
Needs C1+E to use a 5000kg GVW vehicle with a trailer over 750kg plated MAM
B+E means max vehicle GVW of 3500kg with max trailer of 3500 MAM
Agree,needs C!E,easiest licence permutations to show this is at gov.uk/driving-licence-categories
As the vehicle is on an Licence, would like to think the TM was aware of this or scary if not!
darren.ovenden:
Driver passed car licence in 2015.
Put him through his trailer categories this year.
He now has BE entitlement.
If we wish him to drive a van towing a trailer, would he be able to drive up to the vehicle GVW of 5000 Kgs? The vehicle is on our O licence. The loaded trailer would not weigh more than 1500 Kgs,
He has got a digital drivers card ready to use for the Tachograph installed in the said van, also he is booked for 35 hours CPC training.
Would this then allow him to drive this van and trailer.
Or is he required to pass C1?
Needs C1+E to use a 5000kg GVW vehicle with a trailer over 750kg plated MAM
B+E means max vehicle GVW of 3500kg with max trailer of 3500 MAM
Agree,needs C!E,easiest licence permutations to show this is at gov.uk/driving-licence-categories
As the vehicle is on an Licence, would like to think the TM was aware of this or scary if not!
A vehicle with MAM of 3.5 AND a TRAILER ALSO with a MAM of 3.5t = 7t GCW ‘vehicle’ + trailer’.
It doesn’t mean 3.5t GCW if it did what would be the point of B + the E.
ROG:
Needs C1+E to use a 5000kg GVW vehicle with a trailer over 750kg plated MAM
B+E means max vehicle GVW of 3500kg with max trailer of 3500 MAM
B + E 3.5 + 3.5 = 7t GCW.
That is correct 100%
New law came into force in 2013
So obviously doesn’t need C1 + E to drive an outfit at 5t GCW.
Although edit to add it’s actually GTW which is different to GCW because it would mean using an A frame drawbar type trailer.
A 3.5t gross ( towing ) ‘vehicle’ would be put over the 3.5t by the nose weight of a close coupled type trailer.So a 3.5t ‘vehicle’ loaded to max would then put over that max gross by the trailer nose weight,regardless of the trailer weight.
The whole thing is a minefield that’s predisposed to causing unstable heavy trailer and light towing vehicle scenarios caused by trying to keep the towing vehicle within the 3.5t limit.
Going back to the old 7.5t gross limit B category would be better.
If you load a 3.5t van up to its 3.5t max gross then drop the noseweight of a trailer on the back of it it’s no longer a 3.5t van it weighs more than that.Possibly to the point of also exceeding rear axle weight capacity.
So that’s a bust for driving a > 3.5t vehicle on a cat B licence, exceeding the specified max weight of the vehicle, and exceeding its specified rear axle weight.
Brought to the law’s attention by the snaking caused by the resulting reduction in steer axle weight which has been dumped on the rear.
That’s why its called GCW.
Good luck with that.
If you load a 3.5t van up to its 3.5t max gross then drop the noseweight of a trailer on the back of it it’s no longer a 3.5t van it weighs more than that.Possibly to the point of also exceeding rear axle weight capacity.
So that’s a bust for driving a > 3.5t vehicle on a cat B licence, exceeding the specified max weight of the vehicle, and exceeding its specified rear axle weight.
Brought to the law’s attention by the snaking caused by the resulting reduction in steer axle weight which has been dumped on the rear.
That’s why its called GCW.
Good luck with that.
biggriffin:
So basically… 3.5t van+ trailer, mustn’t exceed 7.5t total on weighbridge loaded… am I correct…
Before 2013 yes
After 2013 no = 7.0 tonnes
I’ve not found a 3.5 tonner yet that can gross train more than 7 tonnes ,another reason being that over 3.5 tonnes trailers are not on over run brakes .not sure about where 2013 fits in to the equation?
Could I suggest the driver goes onto the licence check and finds out exactly what it says there. Next to each category there’s a more info bit which gives exact details.
