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Extension of Plating and Testing scheme
• The Minister of Transport yesterday circulated far comment draft regulations which will make it an offence to use any goods vehicle which is loaded above the design weights for the vehicle, as shown on the manufacturer's plate fitted to the vehicle.
Under the plating and testing scheme, artics and other vehicles over 30cwt unladen weight and draw-bar trailers over 1 ton unladen weight will be allocated MoT plated weights when they have been in use on the roads for 12 months. It is an offence for vehicles to be used on the road at weights in excess of those.
But during that first year of their life, these vehicles are not at present subject to any individual weight restrictions and, so long as they are not loaded in excess of the general weight limits laid down in the Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1969, no specific offence is committed.
However, it is obvious, says the MoT, that it is dangerous to use a vehicle with heavier loads than those for which the manufacturers designed it and, in the absence of an MoT plate the manufacturer's plate affords an easily identified criterion for enforcement purposes. Also, the proposals will assist enforcement of quality licensing as the manufacturer's plated weights will, as announced by the Minister on May 21, be used as the criterion for determining whether an operator's licence is required in the case of vehicles for which no MoT plating certificate has yet been issued.
To take. account of operators who want volume rather than weight and wish to fit lower-rated tyres and /or springs suitable for their type of operations, it is proposed to make these regulations at the same time as the plating and testing regulations applicable to post-1967 vehicles, also announced yesterday. Operators who want their vehicles re-plated for this purpose can submit them for early plating. Once a vehicle is plated, if there is any difference between the weights shown on the Ministry plate and those shown on the manufacturer's plate, the weights applicable for enforcement purposes will be those on the MoT plate. Where vehicles have been designed to operate at weights in excess of those generally applicable under the C and V Regulations, the latter will constitute the legal limits for operations in the UK.
A further point covered in the draft regulations is a proposal to require the year of manufacture of trailers to be put on manufacturers' plates. This is necessary for enforcement of the plating and testing regulations. Since trailers do not have to be registered, the year of manufacture on the plate will serve as a guide to enforcement officers in identifying vehicles which are liable to plating and testing under the regulations.
The regulations will apply, in general, to those goods vehicles, including light vans and trailers, which are equipped with a rnanufac
turer's plate but which are not plated by the Ministry.
Plating and testing
The proposals for extending the goods vehicles plating and testing scheme to include vehicles manufactured on or after January 1, 1968 are as follows: From April 1970 to March 1971, vehicles registered in 1968 and 1969 will have to be submitted for plating and testing in monthly batches, according to the dates on which they were first registered. Vehicles manufactured during those two years but not registered before January 1, 1970 will have to be submitted for test by January 1, 1971.
Trailers first acquired by retail in 1968 and 1969 will also have to be submitted for test between April 1970 and March 1971, in monthly batches according to the date of sale.
Vehicles registered in 1970 and subsequent years will be due for their first tests not later than the end of the month in which the first anniversary of the date of registration falls. Trailers first acquired by retail from 1970 onwards will also have to undergo their first tests 12 months after being sold for the first time (e.g. a vehicle first registered on January 1, 1970 will have to undergo its first examination not later than January 31, 1971 and a trailer first sold by retail on December 31, 1970 will need to have had its first examination by December 31, 1971).
Vehicles manufactured in 1970 and onwards which are not registered by the end of the year in which they were made will have to undergo their first tests not later than December 31 in the next year (e.g. a vehicle manufactured on January 1, 1970 but not registered until January 1, 1971 or later in that year will have to be submitted for its first test by December 31, 1971. Similarly such a vehicle not registered either in 1970 or 1971 will have its first test by that date).
The draft regulations include consequential amendments to the regulations governing the submission of vehicles for their periodic tests following initial plating and testing. They also include amendments to take account of the arrangements for the classes now included.
All vehicles manufactured from January 1, 1968 will have to be submitted for periodic testing annually by the last day of the month in which the anniversary of the date of issue of the first test certificate falls. Generally this will coincide with the month of registration. However, a proviso allows the Minister to arrange a periodic test for a vehicle which has not undergone its test by the prescribed date, e.g. because it has been laid up or otherwise has not been in use on roads.
Also, the Ministry statement continues, at present operators are required to give a minimum of 14 days' notice for the arrangement of a periodic test. This notice has proved insufficient. The testing stations have to arrange some re-tests within 14 days of the first test and they can only do this if they have got the pre-arranged programme of work to hand. This programme cannot be available in time if operators can book tests at only 14 days' notice. In line with the required notice for a first examination, it is now proposed that the minimum notice for a periodical test should be increased to one month.
Other proposals in the draft regulations include an amendment to enable the testing station to abandon the examination of a vehicle where it breaks down during an inspection which consequently cannot be completed. Also included are amendments to take account of the Construction and Use braking standards for post-1967 vehicles, and an amendment which will require operators to produce plating certificates and the last test certificate when submitting their vehicles for periodical test.
The plating certificate is required because it is necessary for the vehicle examiner to be able to check, for compliance, the details (recorded only on that certificate) concerning tyre ratings. The production of the test certificate will simplify the clerical work involved in preparing a new certificate.
Certain additional exemptions from the requirements of 5.14(1) and 14(2) of the Road Safety Act 1967 (which makes it an offence to use on roads, without the relevant plating and test certificates, vehicles of a class to which the plating and testing requirements apply) are also proposed.
The first of these exemptions is intended to cover the journey of a vehicle being imported permanently into this country from its point of arrival to a place where it can be kept until arrangements can be made for it to be plated and tested.
The second proposed exemption is intended to cover vehicles which are being delivered, under trade plates, to or from a place where arrangements have been made for them to be sold. Generally this provision is intended to cover vehicles going to auction for scrapping but it also covers vehicles which go for auction and are then re-sold for re-use. However, it will normally be to the advantage of the seller in the latter instance to ensure that a valid test certificate is in force for the vehicle he is disposing.