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KNOW THE
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Registration and licensing, 2
THE AMOUNT of duty payable for the privilege of keeping or using a mechanically propelled vehicle on public roads in Great Britain is laid down in Schedules 1 to 5 of the Vehicles (Excise) Act 1971.
Schedule 1 covers bicycles and tricycles. Schedule 2 deals with hackney carriages and lays down a basic rate of £30 for vehicles with a seating capacity of 20 or less. If the seating capacity is over 20 there is an additional charge of 60p for each extra seat provided. For example, the duty for a 57-seater coach will be £30 plus (60p x 37)=£30 plus £22.20=£52.20.
Schedule 3 deals with tractors, these being divided into three classes — (1) agricultural machines, digging machines, mobile cranes, works trucks and mowing machines, which pay a very low rate of duty; (2) showmen's vehicles, for which there is a lower rate of duty than class; (3) general haulage vehicles.
All these vehicles are of the type which do not themselves carry a load but tow some form of trailer. (Artics do NOT come in this class, the tractive unit and the semi-trailer must be, for this purpose, considered as one vehicle and must be licensed as such.) Schedule 4 is concerned with goods vehicles. These are licensed according to their unladen weight and once again there are concessional rates for farmers and showmen. There is an additional charge if trailers are drawn by goods vehicles but the same rule does not apply to trailers drawn by vehicles used for private purposes and licensed "private".
Because of the amount of duty to be paid depends on the unladen weight of a goods vehicle it is profitable to keep this weight as low as possible. Schedule 6 of the Act lays down how the unladen weight of goods vehicles must be computed. It states that the unladen weight of a vehicle must be taken as the weight of the vehicle inclusive of the body (the heavier being taken where alternative bodies or parts are used) and all parts which are necessary to or ordinarily used with the vehicle when working on a road but exclusive of the weight of water, fuel or accumulators used for the purpose of the supply of power for the propulsion of the vehicle, and of loose tools and loose equipment.
Containers, if lifted on or off the vehicle with goods inside, need not be weighed with the vehicle; cattle trucks are particularly mentioned in this respect. Towing attachments need not be included in the unladen weight provided they do not exceed 1 cwt if attached to one end of the vehicle or 2 cwt if attached to both ends.
In order to keep the rate of excise duty on a goods vehicle as low as possible the unladen weight must be reduced by all legitimate means available. The Act gives express permission for "loose equipment" to be excluded when computing the unladen weight and the question arises "What exactly does the term mean?" Not surprisingly there have been several stated cases on the subject of which the following is a summary. It was held in Lowe v Stone (1948) 2 All E.R. 1076 that "loose equipment" does not include loose boards fitted in slots at the side of a lorry and used to enable it to carry a heavier load of coal. Neither does it include a heavy iron block used for ballast (London County Council v Hay's Wharf Cartage Co. 1953 2 All E.R. 34). It does include movable
shelves fitted to slide on brackets in a baker's van and used to facilitate the delivery of goods to customers (Darling and Burton (1928) S.C.(J) 11). Planks and poles to load oil drums on a vehicle fitted with a diesel lighting plant are "loose tools and equipment" (Keeble v Millar (1950) 1 All E.R. 261). Side, tail and front boards, which, when in use, where fitted inside the vehicle's sides and secured to posts let into the body were held not to be "loose equipment"; the test is the nature of the superstructure, the use to which it would be put and the character of its attachment to the vehicle, and the question is largely one of fact (Blaikie v Morrison 1957 S.L.T. 290).
If a vehicle is used for a purpose for which a higher rate of duty is payable than the one which has been paid then an offence is committed. The most common ways in which these offences are committed, sometimes quite unwittingly, is where a dual-purpose vehicle, taxed privately, is used for the carriage of goods in connection with a trade or business, or where a trailer is towed by a goods vehicle taxed for goods only or the use of a hackney carriage for private purposes. The following examples illustrate how these offences may occur: (a) A dual-purpose vehicle, between 16 cwt and 1 ton unladen weight costs £60 for private use but if used for the carriage of goods in connection with a trade or business this figure goes up to £67.
(b) A goods vehicle under 16 cwt unladen weight costs £60; used with a trailer it costs £96.
(c) A hackney carriage licence for a vehicle with a seating capacity of 19 costs £30. The same vehicle used for private purposes needs a licence which costs £60. In James v Davies(1953) 2 ,z RE 758 it was held that a Lar Rover used for towing a trailei which goods were carried, mi be licensed as a goods vehi and trailer. In Flower Freigh Hammond (1962) 3 All ER 9, it was held that the addition o large roof rack to a private mo car did not make it a goc vehicle. The test to be applied an altered vehicle is whethei would have been a goo vehicle if it had been construct in its altered state. The carria of photographic equipment ir shooting-brake by the director a firm of photographers vt held to be using a goods vehii in Taylor v Thompson (1956 All ER 352. In Plume v Suckli (1977) RTR 271 a coach had be converted to carry a stock c kitchen equipment and six pr sengers. It was held to be goods vehicle.
When applying for renewal an excise licence, as well as t fee, a valid certificate of surance covering the vehicle question and a test certificate one is required for the vehic must be produced. Provid that the following conditions E complied with licences may renewed at Post Offices:
(a) any change of ownership h been recorded on the registi tion document by the Autho ties;
(b) no alteration has been ma, to the vehicle or its use;
(c) application is made not mo than 14 days before the licen becomes effective and not me than 14 days after the previo one has expired.
More about excise licences the next article and particula about exemptions from the ne for such licences.