Class III laws being broken
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AN UNKNOWN number of lorry drivers are now breaking the law and could find themselves in court because they failed to claim hgv licences to which they were entitled.
This follows the change last year to 7.5 tonnes gross plated weight as the level at which an hgv licence was required.
After the Road Traffic (Drivers' Ages and Hours) Act 1976 came into effect last April, the Department of Transport allowed drivers of vehicles under 3 tons unladen, which exceeded 7.5 tonnes gross, to claim class III hgv's.
They were given until the beginning of the New Year to get a class III, which would allow them to drive vehicles up to 10 tonnes gross.
Drivers who did not apply were warned by the DTp that they would have to take a class III test if they wanted to carry on driving after December 31, 1976.
But despite this, some drivers have obviously not claimed their licences. For last week a driver and his company were prosecuted.
McPherson's Transport Ltd was fined £10 for employing a driver to drive a heavy goods vehicle without an hgv licence in contravention of Section 112(2) of the Road Traffic Act 1972.
The driver, Alistair Leslie, had been in possession of the appropriate driving licence when the company employed him in 1972, but failed to obtain an hgv licence under the provisions of the 1976 Act.
The driver had been fined £5 for driving without the appropriate licence.
The DTp is being very strict on the application of the new rules.
Cases have been reported to CM of drivers applying for their licences shortly before the December 31 deadline but not being issued with class A spokesman for the DTp said that the licence had to be issued before the deadline date and no licences would now be issued without a driver passing a test — even if the application had been made before December 31.
It is impossible to put a figure on the number who may be breaking the law because they only hold car licences at the moment and there is nothing to show that they have been working as lorry drivers.