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RHA opposes tractor and refuse vehicle exemptions
Page 58
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• In the interest of public safety the Road Haulage Association is opposing the exemption of agricultural tractors and trailers from operators' licensing, arguing that, as these vehicles are exempt from plating and testing, from minimum braking standards and from tyre safety regulations, they should be subject at least to operators' licensing to ensure that there is some control over their maintenance.
These points were made in an RHA memorandum to the Ministry of Transport on the Goods Vehicles (Operators' Licences) regulations.
The Association points out that the proposed exemption means that any farm trailer weighing up to 14 tons gross can be hauled by an agricultural tractor for up to 15 miles on the road. Instead, the RHA recommends that exclusion from operators' licensing should be restricted to farm trailers up to 3+ tons gross or 1 ton unladen.
The Association also opposes, again for reasons of public safety, the exemption of local authorities' vehicles used for the collection and disposal of refuse, night soil or the contents of cesspools. Local authorities should be placed on the same footing as commercial operators of similar vehicles, particularly as they are to require operators' licences for other goods vehicles which they run.
The memorandum points out that the requirement that no application shall include a vehicle specified in another application still under consideration by a Licensing Authority will often cause practical difficulties for operators.
Provision should be made to ensure that objections are lodged by the headquarters of the statutory objectors and not locally. Moreover, the period for submitting objections should be reduced from three weeks to 14 days.
Improvements in other detailed administrative arrangements are also suggested.