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Do I need a licence
Page 34
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I am a property developer and I do not have an HGV licence. Can I legally drive a cabonly unit? It would be useful to me when I drive round looking for new sites because it enables me to see over fences! Will I need a restricted licence?
Martin Burney Chigwell, Essex You are asking two questions here. The first is, do you need an HGV licence to drive a cab-only unit. The essence of the answer to this question is almost certainly yes. There is an argument depending on the unladen weight of the HGV, and on whether you have the G1 +E category on your licence, that if the maximum permitted weight on the unit does not exceed 7.5 tonnes and no trailer is attached to the vehicle, then you would be entitled to drive on a normal licence.
But in practice you will be very hard pushed to find a tractor with a maximum weight less than 7.5 tonnes. If you took your driving test after 1997, it would have to have a maximum weight under 3.5 tonnes, which of course renders it even more difficult.
The risk of problems with the enforcement agencies far outweigh the benefits of the added height.
The issue relating to 0-licensing is separate. If you are using the vehicle for the carriage of goods. and the presumption is that you will be if you are driving a tractor unit, then you will need a restricted 0-licence if you are carrying, or are intending to carry, your own goods.
If you are able to persuade the court that the vehicle will not be used forthe carriage of goods, ideally that it could not be used as a goods vehicle —for example by removing the fifth wheel coupling and putting an arrangement in its place which prevented the use of the vehicle for carrying goods of any sort—then again you might fall outside the 0-licensing regime.
But again, this is a cumbersome and legally unattractive way of using a tractor unit. You would be trying to rely on an exemption or narrow interpretation of the regulations. Whenever you are trying to operate a vehicle within narrow definitions like this you are at risk of a court disagreeing with you and ending up with a prosecution.
The problem is that if you do not have an 0licence, and the Traffic Commissioner decides you do need one, you will be at risk of the vehicle being impounded, with costs of the sale of the vehicle going to the Grown.
Also, if you do not have a driving licence it also invalidates your insurance policy. And you will struggle to get insurance for such a vehicle without the valid class of driving licence.
You would be well advised therefore to steer clear of using a tractor unit in this way.