Q I have been offered work picking up unaccompanied trailers from
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the docks and hauling them to destinations in this country. This will be the first time I have undertaken this work and I have made myself familiar with the hours of work regulations. However, I notice that these trailers do not carry the "Long Vehicle" plates required by British Regulations. Is this in order or do I have to provide these plates for foreign trailers?
A Foreign trailers in this country for less than 12 months need not carry reflective " Long Vehicle " rear marker plates. This exemption is contained in Regulation 3 (b) of the Motor Vehicles (Rear Markings) ( Amendment) Regulations 1972.
The original Regulations— Motor Vehicles (Rear Marking) Regulations 1970—were obscure on this point. Regulation 2 (n) exempted only "vehicles brought temporarily into Great Britain by a person resident abroad." Thus, the intention to exempt foreign trailers attached to British vehicles was not clear.
The amendment Regulations quoted, however, added a further paragraph to the original Regulations. This exempted "a trailer brought into Great Britain and having a base or centre in a country outside Great Britain from which the use of the vehicle on a journey is normally commenced, a period of 12 months not having elapsed since the vehicle in question was last brought into Great Britain."