Wrong plate
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One of my Gregistered tippers was stopped in a roadside check and a traffic examiner found that it did not have a Ministry plate fitted. The vehicle was found to be overweight.
I have since received a summons for not having the plate fitted and I must accept that, but the overloading summons refers to a Regulation 66 plate—not the Ministry plate—and Regulation 80(1)(a) of the Construction and Use Regulations.
Can you tell me what a Regulation 66 plate is and if I have any defence to that charge?
A You should plead 'not
guilty' to the overloading charge because you have not committed the offence charged.
A Regulation 66 plate is fitted by the manufacturer when the vehicle is new or by the manufacturer or an agent when some major alteration (such as adding an axle) has been made.
Regulation 80(1)(a) makes it an offence for the weights on the plate fitted under Regulation 66 to be exceeded, but only if a plating certificate has not been issued for the vehicle.
As your vehicle is only a few years old and has a Ministry plate, a plating certificate must have been issued for it. Consequently, Regulation 80(1)(a) does not apply to it.
The overloading charge should have been brought under Regulation 80(1)(b) which deals with enforcement of the weights on the plating certificate. But, as the vehicle did not have a Ministry plate fitted, the vehicle examiner would have had a problem in proving an offence under Regulation 80(1)(b).