LETTER OF THE WEEK
Page 13
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Small trailer exemption ban may be a big can of worms
IN YOUR LEGAL DIGEST pages (CM 9 September), the inal paragraph of the “Shaken and stirred” article about the abolition of small trailer exemptions could be very signiicant indeed.
It appears to mean that any trailer drawn by a 3.5-tonne vehicle will put that combination into the scope of the Olicensing regime if the outit is used for hire and reward transport, or even own-account work. I wonder, will these trailers then need an MoT to boot?
At present most light trailers, whether lat, curtainside, tilt, or boxvan types, won’t be more than 300kg or 400kg unladen weight. This means they can carry a considerable payload, albeit within the towing vehicle manufacturer’s speciied GCW (for most Ford Transits this is 5.5-tonne, allowing for a loaded trailer up to 2-tonne), and do not need an annual MoT test. In future this will no longer be the case.
I understand some operators have had 5or 6tonne GCW vehicles downplated to 3.5-tonnes, yet managed to retain the GCW of up to 7-tonnes allowing for a 3-tonne payload, i.e. more than some 7.5-tonne rigid lorries. Also, one or two vehicle manufacturers make some 3.5-tonne vehicles with a 3.5-tonne towing capacity, advertising them as running up to 7-tonne GCW without an O-licence.
All these, of course, are subject to EU driving rules while towing and must have a tachograph itted and used, but were crucially always previously outside the O-licensing regime. There’s good reason for this, as some operators may not have a CPC holder or wish to have the expense of paying one, or their premises might not qualify as operating centres.
All in all, it looks like a very big can of worms to me. Maybe CM ought to investigate the full implications of this change as it would make a good story.
DS Boyes (retired) Leeds