Ok so this subject gets covered allot I know but I want to be sure I'm on the correct track here. Looking to buy a new trailer and I'm concerned about having a tacho fitted and the costs involved, I have a 2009 ford transit T330, which means I can have a total vehicle weight of 3300kg, my GTW is 5300kg, which allows me if the van is fully loaded to pull a total trailer weight of 2000kg, what I wanted to also know is do they go on max towing weight of the trailer minus max vehcile weight or total train weight, I.e if I have the van empty say at 1700kg I can tow max of 3600kg as that would be max train weight of 5300kg? Moving onto the tacho I read that for business use (even though I may only be moving a customer car a few miles or collecting car for a service) I require a tacho, looking into costs people claim it would seem to be around the £1400 mark to have this installed and then you require an operators licence which looks to be an extra £650? Does that sound right £2k for a tacho and license just so I can tow maybe 500 miles a year? Just wondering if anyone else has done it legally and what it cost, and if I'm right on my weights I can pull. The trailer I'm looking at can take total of 2750kg and weighs 750kilos itself. Thanks
It's a proper mind field using for business, it would seem I do have to have a operators licence and then I have to use the tacho all the time even for personal use, and the bit that got me says you can't park the car on the public road, I.e out side your home. It's almost impossible to do this legally it would seem, unless I'm totally wrong with what I've found on the subject so far on the Internet.
yes tachos etc are a mindfield, more hassle than their worth so "pay a friend to move things for you" and having to nominate a place where you park it to keep the traffic commissioner happy,say that some twat round the corner from me runs his recovery company from a block of flats, parks his motors in the street etc and somehow gets away with it, his drivers are cunts aswell. basically its just not worth it.
Depends what you say if vosa pull you in. If your moving a friends car? Depends how good friends you are so maybe your doing it for free? Don't need a tacho, Pcps or anything! Weight wise stick to your train weight, make sure your trailer is within its plate weight. Old bill have no idea about the new trailer laws so don't worry about them it vosa who is the problem. Also check your tie downs on your trailer as there are laws on those now!
In that case NO, you have to be within both your trailer and train weight (ie whichever is the lower) so in this case max you would be able to tow would be 2750 including the weight of the trailer (2000kg car+750kg trailer) otherwise you would be over loading your trailer. As suggested depends who/what your towing, if one is yours and the others a friend and they are both track cars you can argue that you are only using it for personal use and I doubt anyone would argue with you as long as your weights in. But if your pulled with 2 brand new BMW's and your wearing shirt and tie saying Joe Bloggs vehicle movements I'd say you were pretty much banged to rights
The fella who did my CPC classroom stuff was telling us about a girl who had a horse box and took her mates horse for free to a competition as she was ready going that way. She was stopped and sanctioned for not have the correct O licence and tacho due to the horse was competing and was not her own even though no money was being exchanged. So they can be anal! I also think to hold an O licence you need to hold a transport managers CPC and even prove sufficient sums to maintain the vehicles although I know this is case for HGVs not Im not sure about a van and trailer.
The van will also attract vosa attention being a commercial. I use a pajero so will get a little less attention but won't mean I won't get pulled in.
Wasn't it because the horse win a trophy? I heard that story before. If the horse lost it would be deemed private but if it won something it would be commercial? Also if they look at it as commercial when your pulled and you have done a 48hour week even if you weren't driving that means you have gone over hours! Good init? How hard can it be to earn a extra couple of quid?
Solid mate!! Make it tricky for those that want to work hard and easy for those that want to sit on their arse and let others pay for everything! But that's a whole new thread I guess...
I like to play by the rules when it comes to my company, the van is sign written so hard to defend just moving a friends car. When I sai could two 3600kg I mean it could pull a trailer upto that if it was plated, not limited to 2000kg on my trailer ect. I'm willing to pay and do the o licence but what's the transport manager shit, and the fact I can't park my personal vehicle which is my van and only vehicle at my house seems ridiculous, I think they imply too much truck licence bullshit on a van, I mean I am like one of hand full of people that actually have a +E on there license, it's amazing how anal they can be. I can a fine for not having the breakaway strap on a factory fitted towbar that didn't have a separate loop, swan neck, I hooked it around the tow bar hitch like nearly everyone does, apparently I needed to get a tow bar better then the one the car was certified with... Unreal really, so looks like a call to vosa today.
So i spoke with the VOSA (or whatever they have changed there name to now) and they confirmed there was no way around it and that I would require an Operators Licence which is £257 + £401 (for 5 years, which i have to pay ever five years) I can no longer drive my Van home as it is not allowed, it has to have a depot to park it in, so in short your looking well over £2000 to register it for towing anything more then say 1350kilos, which imho is retarded for local collections, Being charged what a HGV would pay is crazy. I even tried the Dual Purpose vehicle but regardless of that if it GTW comes over 3500kg then Operator licence is required. Baiscally It would be cheaper to buy a dedicated recovery truck if i was going down that route tbh, which is just mental.
Kind of understand why they do it because you are going down the road with over 8 ton falling asleep at the wheel! However they should change it for lighter stuff like van and trailer.
I can answer a lot of this, as I myself am a CPC holder (transport manager) I have an o-licence too which I acquired earlier this year for my company. But It really will be difficult to answer on here, as I don't really have the time to write it on here. Drop me a PM if interested and I'll give you my number to call me and I will try and answer as many questions as I can
Non of it makes sense and it winds me up that the rules are absurd.ive got a small transport company and do shift the odd car on my trailer with my ducato i only move new cars. There's no way I couldn't go home in my truck when I'm getting up at 5 in the morn Ive not time to go to the workshop.say I do a small job with a tacho on a Monday morning then I'm limited to 45 hours for the rest of the week,me and my driver swap trucks a couple of times a week how would that work.i use the truck as a personal car so it is insane that I couldn't use it.ive done my trailer license got the full and proper transport insurance just can't see me being able to afford to do the o licence,have a tacho fitted then lose the use of my truck.
It's a joke, wanting to do it above board and legit is almost impossible with sacrificing your daily and allot of money.. @rex-7 that would be cool.
This is interesting as I work for a breakdown company and I regularly tow vehicles using a Van for work which is legally seen as a braked trailer on my rig, and we certainly don't use Tachos, I do however have to stay within a certain radius of my base though. And this idea of not being able to park at home is strange. I know plenty of recovery truck drivers that park their 7.5T Trucks outside their houses and I think they're all on Tacho? Strange you're not allowed to park a transit!
Just had a look on the Gov website and it says that breakdown vehicles are exempt from the tacho rules if within 100KM of base which would explain it.
