Call-up for one and two year olds
Page 31
Page 33
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• At the present time vehicles registered after January 1, 1968 are not included in the plating and testing scheme. But they will be after April 1, 1970. The Minister of Transport laid new regulations before Parliament this week which bring the newer goods vehicles and trailers into the scheme.
In general, vehicles first registered in 1968 and 1969 will have to be submitted for an initial examination for plating and testing between April 1, 1970 and March 31, 1971, the actual date being not later than the end of the month in which the anniversary of their first registration falls. In the case of trailers the date of purchase is the relevant factor and they will have to undergo their first examinations in the same 12 month period but by the end of the month in which the anniversary of the date of purchase falls.
With regard to 1970 vehicles, their first examinations will have to be by the end of the month in which the first anniversary of registration falls and provision is also made for vehicles used on the road which have not been registered and for trailers which have not been sold; these will have to be submitted for a first examination not later than the end of December in the year following that in which they were manufactured. After the initial examination and plating all these vehicles now brought into the scheme will be due for periodic inspections not later than the end of the month in each year in which the anniversary of the issue of the first test certificate falls.
The procedures for submitting applications for first examinations for the post1967 vehicles remain the same as those for hides already subject to the scheme. But there is a change in the regulations governing the submission of applications for all annual examinations after initial testing. These periodic examinations will be starting early in 1970 and the changes now made will apply to all vehicles. At least one month's notice will have to be given of the date on which it is desired to have a vehicle tested instead of the two weeks as laid down in the original regulations. And operators will have to produce the plating certificate and last test certificate issued for the vehicle (or photo-copies) when putting it forward for an annual test.
At the same time as introducing these changes the latest regulations also relax certain requirements regarding re-tests 14 days or more after the initial test. Instead of having to apply to the Goods Vehicle Centre in Swansea, operators will now be able to apply to the station at which they want the re-test to be carried out, but seven days' notice will be required.
Further exemptions from the need to have a valid plating or test certificate are included in the latest regulations, these including an unladen vehicle driven under trade plates or drawn by another vehicle operating under trade plates. Vehicles being imported into Britain for the first time are also exempt while they are being driven from the place of arrival to the place where they are to be kept until the first examination can be arranged.
Because vehicles registered after January 1, 1968 have to have more efficient brakes than pre-1968 vehicles, Schedule of the original regulations has had to be modified; The Goods Vehicles (Plating and Testing) Regulations 1968 have hitherto referred only to pre-1967 vehicles, of course. A new paragraph is added stating that the minimum braking force capable of being developed by the brakes of a trailer made after January 1, 1968, shall be 0.5W for a drawbar trailer and 0.4W for a semi-trailer where W represents the plated gross weight of the trailer.
Copies of the new Regulations—The Goods Vehicles (Plating and Testing) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations (SI 1969 No. 1324) may be obtained from HM Stationery Office, price Is 3d.