Row brews over truck widths
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• Special Types vehicle rules have once again come under the microscope as Cleveland police clash with heavy hauliers over tax rates.
Cleveland police have been stopping heavy hauliers to tell them they are taxed incorrectly if the width of the vehicle is over 4.3m. Some hauliers have been told that instead of paying 21,200 or 22,750 they should be paying special types rates of 25,000. Some have since paid. But one haulier in West Yorkshire, who has asked not to be named, says that he is due to go to court over the issue. He believes that under Construction and Use Regulations, only abnormal loads of over 38 tonnes fell into the Special Types classification.
Cleveland police says that it will take a test case to clarify the situation. A spokesman says the police are only following the law and will be reporting every vehicle over 4.3m wide which is not taxed at the Special Types rate. Transport lawyer Jonathan Lawton says that if a load is between 4.3m and 6.1m wide, it is still outside the Special Types regulations if it complies in all other respects with C&U and does not exceed 38 tonnes.
But the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency disagrees: "Any vehicle carrying a load in excess of 4.3m is required to pay the Special Types vehicles rate of vehicle excise duty (currently £5,000) if it used or kept on the public road," it says.