Q Is it necessary for the driver 4' a tractive unit
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without a trailer attached to hold a heavy goods vehicle driving licence? My company frequently wishes to transfer tractive units between depots and delay is caused by having to wait until a heavy goods vehicle driver is free to undertake this duty.
A If the tractive unit is under 3 tons unladen weight then the driver need not have a heavy goods vehicle driving licence. Exemption for this is contained in Section 28(k) of the Heavy Goods
Vehicles (Drivers' Licences) Regulation 1969.
This exempts any motor car as defined in Section 253(2) of the Road Traffic Act 1960 (now Section 190(2) of the Road Traffic Act 1972) so constructed that a trailer may by partial superimposition be attached thereto in such a manner as to cause a substantial part of the weight of the trailer to be borne thereby, but which has no trailer attached.
Section 190(2) of the 1972 Act defines a motor car as a mechanically propelled vehicle constructed or adapted for the conveyance of goods or burden of any description the weight of which unladen does not exceed 3 tons.
Moreover, subsection (9) of that Section states that for the purposes of the Section in a case where a motor vehicle is so constructed that a trailer may by partial superimposition be attached to the vehicle . . that vehicle shall be deemed to be a vehicle itself constructed to carry a load.