I was asked by a mate,
“if you are running on trade plates do the tacho rules still apply, do you even need to use a tacho?”
My answer was, “Yes, course you do”.
But am I correct■■?
Seems obvious to me but not 100% sure
Trade plates allow the use of a vehicle on a road when it is not taxed and have nothing to do with drivers’ hours regulations.
Whether records need to be kept depends on what the vehicle is doing.
They essentially only allow the delivery of a vehicle but abuse of this is a trade plate offence, not a tachograph one.
As an example, you may drive a vehicle to a place from which it is to be permanently exported without using a tachograph but only if it is unladen.
I know of an exporter who did this regularly, using trade plates, but put a second export vehicle on the back, was stopped and had the book thrown at him.
regards,
Nick.
Trade plates are magical, they allow you to drive with no MOT, bald tyres, wings missing, unlicensed drivers and in a dangerous condition.
NOT
They are the equivalent of this. except you cannot carry goods or passengers
I had to write with my mouse, wrong handed.
Nick,
Thanks for the reply, more or less what I thought.
I will pass on the message.
Regards,
Mike
most new vehicles won’t have a calibrated tacho fitted (done at p.d.i) so if doing delivery of new vehicles and that are not under an operators licence either you would be exempt from tacho regs as vehicle is unreg’d to anyone. well that is i was always led to believe 
Hiya… i would say all the answers are correct but some are not, and thats the answer…there are different
uses for trade plate… some you can carry passangers;ie test driving a car you may buy so passangers are
allowed…delivery plates are to deliver new lorries but passangers are not allowed and it goes on and on…
infact its like all lorry driving rules nothing is straight forward for the lorry driver, the law can be twisted
one way or another to trap the hard working lorry driver.At one time we was always going to fast so now
we have limiters and we.re holding people up… no one like trucks but when it comes to a truckfest the
place is full of the people who don,t like them. for years everything we do and how we do it is wrong.
John
the regs don’t count. it isn’t being used for the carriage of goods for hire and reward.
so no tacho/logbook, or written record required.
A slightly different angle to this question.
5 blokes jump in a people carrier at Scania Sheffield, drive down to morrisons Yate. 4 of them jump out and into 4 de-hired morrisons Scania units and drive them back to the dealers in sheffield. No trade plates where used. They where all agency drivers and where getting paid specifically to go south an collect the units. 1 bloke insisted on using his tacho and taking his breaks in accordance with the WTD etc from the point he departed as a passenger from sheffield. The other 3 didn`t use a tacho, nor did they take a break as such… whats the legal position regarding tachos, breaks etc without trade plates
peirre:
A slightly different angle to this question.
5 blokes jump in a people carrier at Scania Sheffield, drive down to morrisons Yate. 4 of them jump out and into 4 de-hired morrisons Scania units and drive them back to the dealers in sheffield. No trade plates where used. They where all agency drivers and where getting paid specifically to go south an collect the units. 1 bloke insisted on using his tacho and taking his breaks in accordance with the WTD etc from the point he departed as a passenger from sheffield. The other 3 didn`t use a tacho, nor did they take a break as such… whats the legal position regarding tachos, breaks etc without trade plates
they don’t need to use a tacho.
limeyphil:
peirre:
A slightly different angle to this question.
5 blokes jump in a people carrier at Scania Sheffield, drive down to morrisons Yate. 4 of them jump out and into 4 de-hired morrisons Scania units and drive them back to the dealers in sheffield. No trade plates where used. They where all agency drivers and where getting paid specifically to go south an collect the units. 1 bloke insisted on using his tacho and taking his breaks in accordance with the WTD etc from the point he departed as a passenger from sheffield. The other 3 didn`t use a tacho, nor did they take a break as such… whats the legal position regarding tachos, breaks etc without trade platesthey don’t need to use a tacho.
Then I would say that the terminology … For Hire or Reward… is used incorrectly in the regulations.
As getting paid for driving that truck is REWARD.
Just a thought 
its doing the job without trade plates and the legal coverage they give, that made me wonder.
The job was done several years ago, and I was the one who DID use a tacho
dar1976:
Then I would say that the terminology … For Hire or Reward… is used incorrectly in the regulations.As getting paid for driving that truck is REWARD.
Just a thought
surely the Hire and Reward bit of the regulations apply to the truck not the driver ?
Denis F:
dar1976:
Then I would say that the terminology … For Hire or Reward… is used incorrectly in the regulations.As getting paid for driving that truck is REWARD.
Just a thought
surely the Hire and Reward bit of the regulations apply to the truck not the driver ?
You are probably right Denis. I do not claim to know everything. Just putting my thoughts out there.
Denis F:
[quote=“dar1976”Then I would say that the terminology … For Hire or Reward… is used incorrectly in the regulations.
As getting paid for driving that truck is REWARD.
Just a thought
surely the Hire and Reward bit of the regulations apply to the truck not the driver ?
[/quote]
correct 
peirre:
its doing the job without trade plates and the legal coverage they give, that made me wonder.
The job was done several years ago, and I was the one who DID use a tacho
Again, the issue of trade plates is not relevant, it’s what the truck is doing that determines whether or not records are required.
Trade plates are ONLY a temporary tax disc and restrict what the vehicle can be used for.
If the vehicle is used in breach of the trade plate rules, then any prosecution will be under these rules, not the driver’s hours regulations,
which may or may not have been breached.
If the tractor units were out of tax, then that’s a third issue.
The original post implied that there are drivers who think that trade plates exempt them from a variety of things,
when in fact they impose even more restrictions.
As to your case, I doubt that anyone has ever been prosecuted for keeping records when they were not required and it is often a test case at court which
eventually decides what is and is not illegal.
My opinion, for what it is worth, is that you were right because the vehicles were being driven for “reward” in the course of a truck trading business,
the reward coming from their eventual sale which could not take place until they were collected from Yate.
Regards,
Nick.
peirre:
A slightly different angle to this question.
5 blokes jump in a people carrier at Scania Sheffield, drive down to morrisons Yate. 4 of them jump out and into 4 de-hired morrisons Scania units and drive them back to the dealers in sheffield. No trade plates where used. They where all agency drivers and where getting paid specifically to go south an collect the units.
You’re working; therefore when you get into your unit in Yate you should insert a tacho and show on that tacho when you started your duty and the work you have done.
As far as trade plates are concerned, if they didn’t supply you with them and the units weren’t taxed then the units couldn’t be used on the road.
Stan