P LETTER OF THE WEEK
Page 16
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Understanding the small print
THE LEITER FROM Jim Duckworth (CM 10 December) is interesting in that he is a long-standing and well-respected legal commentator on transport matters, and he is rarely wrong.
His description of Reg 7(5) is correct: it does, indeed, limit the overall combination length of a motor vehicle pulling two trailers to 25.9m. Note the words "motor vehicle'," which covers locomotive, motor car and heavy motor car and perhaps others, We must, however, take a much closer look at Reg 83(1).
In the table therein, item 5 does permit a locomotive to pull three trailers — agreed, In the same table, item 6 permits a "motor tractor" to pull two trailers if they are both empty, otherwise only one. Again, agreed. Item 7, however, tells us that: "A heavy motor car or a motor car not described in 1.3 or 4 (a straddle carrier and two types of bus) above may pull two trailers if one of them is a towing implement and part of the other is secured to and either rests on or is suspended from that implement."
So there we have it. Items 5 and 6 are not relevant to a "B" Double or "B" train. it is item 7 that is involved here. Item 7 has no mention of locomotive, indeed it is directed specifically at "motor cars and heavy motorcars': It appears that these rules were drafted with road safety primarily and dominantly in mind, and rightly so.
I hope, Mr Editor, that your readers are not getting bored with the longer, heavier vehicles debate. We, at Denby Transport, wish them all a happy new year.
Dick Denby
Denby Transport