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Page 93
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My employment is concerned with collecting and delivering new and secondhand vehicles. Do I need an hgv licence? My three-yearly licence expires on January 12 7973 andl have been driving heavy goods vehicles for the past 21 years with a clean licence. I also do relief driving during the summer months for other communes.
A It seems certain from the information given that you are required to hold an hgv licence bdth for your work in collecting and delivering new and secondhand vehicles and for doing relief work driving goods vehicles in the summer. You will require an hgv licence of the appropriate class for the types of vehicles you are driving; this licence must run from the day when your renewed ordinary licence takes effect. namely January 13 1973.
As it appears that you have been driving regularly over a long period, you should qualify for the grant of an hgv licence as a result of your driving experience without the need for an hgv driving test and we suggest that you obtain a copy of the hgv driving licence application form as soon as possible and get your employer to complete the "Certificate of Experience" part of the form, so that you can apply for a licence. You will find full details on the form about the qualifications needed to obtain a licence without taking a test.
CI In a recent a & A (CM March 24) you stated that a Ford 0800 would have to meet the post-1969 braking standards after January 1 1973. I am under the -impression that this date has not yet been confirmed. Also I am told that there is no specified handbrake efficiency for these vehicles. I am concerned about this matter since I have 'similar vehicles. Could you confirm the exact position regarding these regulations? A It is true that January 1 1973 has not yet
been confirmed by the DoE as the date from which pre-1968 vehicles will have to meet the post-I968 braking standards. At present the only reason for supposing that these vehicles will have to meet the 50 per cent and 25 per cent efficiencies by that date is that at the time of the introduction of the original braking specifications, concessions allowing lower efficiency standards for pre-1968 vehicles were granted on the understanding that such vehicles would eventually have to meet the higher service and secondary brake efficiencies but not before January 11973. It was expected by the industry that the DoE would have by now made the necessary regulations for the uprating of efficiencies on pre-1968 vehicles if it was intended that January 1 1973 was to be the effective date. No such regulations have been made neither has there been any recent indication as to whether braking efficiencies on these vehicles will ever have to meet the higher standards.
Paul Brockington writing in an article in CM January 21 this year called "Updating brakes
for 1973" quotes a Ford spokesman assaying "the uncertainty Is creating a lot of bother for a lot of people". So far as handbrake standards are concerned, the article stated that the DoE engineering section had confirmed that "In 1973 the handbrake of a pre-1968 vehicle' which is equipped with a main system giving a service brake efficiency of 50 per cent end a secondary-brake efficiency of 25 per cent will not have to comply with an efficiency requirement, given that it is of the mechanically applied type. It will simply be required to effectively prevent a minimum of two wheels' from turning when the vehicle is left unattended. But where a mechanical handbrake on a pre-1968 vehicle is dispensed with, and spring brakes are fitted, they must be capable of holding the vehicle on a 1 in 6.25 gradient (16 per cent), regardless of whether they are used solely for parking or for both parking and secondary brake application", QCould you tell me the current mini
mum fiat and overtime rates of pay for a driver of a 16-ton-gross (104-ton payload) tipper truc& operating in the West Country? When did these rates come into effect and are there any neer future revisions?
AThe current rates for provincial drivers are as follows:
5 to 10 tons 16.98 10 to 15 tons 17.35 Overtime is calculated as time in excess of 71 hours {Monday — Thursday): 7 hours on Friday and four hours on Saturday for six-day week workers; and time in excess of 8 hours on any day Monday — Friday for five-day week workers. Overtime worked on weekdays is payable at time-and-a-half and on Sundays at double-time.
These rates were specified in the Road Haulage Wages Council Order RH94 which took effect from October 12 1970, The Road Haulage Wages Council has proposed that rates will increase as follows: 5 to 10 tons 18.48 10 to 15 tons 18.85 An increase of subsistence to £1.75 is also proposed. The new rates have recently been approved by the Secretary of State for Employment and will take effect from May 24.
Could you give me details of the conditions relating to working at weekends?
My employer says that if I work from Monday to Friday and then on Sunday I cannot work on the following Saturday because the week ends on Saturday at midnight. This means that Sunday is the beginning of the week1 believe that the working week begins on a Monday and if! work on either Saturday or Sunday on alternate weeks, I am still having one day's rest.
AYour employer is correct in stating that the official working week for the purposes of the drivers' hours regulations does start at midnight on Saturday/Sunday.
He is also correct in saying that if you work on a Sunday you cannot work on the following Saturday because you will not have had one day's rest in that working week.
What you can do is to have a Sunday off then work Monday, to Friday. Saturday and Sunday and then Monday to Friday again so that you have worked continuously for 12 days, with the normal 11 hours rest between working days, of course but will have had one day's rest in respect of both those working weeks.
Could you let me know If the Commercial Motor Tables of Operating Costa have or could be used as a medium in any legal or transport disputes? The reason for my request is that I have been asked by my counsel, who is representing me over a partnership dissolution to obtain an Impartial opinion on the subject of vehicle costs. A CM'S Tables are widely used and
accepted in transport circles, from the smallest to the largest operators, as being a standard work of reference on the subject of vehicle costing.
They have been quoted in Courts of Law and are well-known and accepted by the Licensing Authorities, and they have been quoted at public inquiries in connection with the issue of carriers' and operators' licences.
Q Both the CM Tables of Operating Costs and your current series "Costs that count" refer to the practice, when assessing
goods vehicle depreciation, of deducting the value of the original set of tyres from the capital cost of the vehicle before apportion ing the depreciation over the estimated life of the vehicle. By this means, taxation relief in the first year would be based on the first year's depreciation charge plus the total cost of the complete set of tyres, as opposed to only a proportion of the total depreciation and a portion of the value of the original set of tyres. Could you advise me if this practice is acceptable to the Inland Revenue when presenting annual accounts for taxation purposes?
AIt is not usual practice for depreciation to be split in this way when presenting accounts for taxation purposes. The total original cost of the vehicle is used.
However, this system is generally recognized as being acceptable in cost accounting where accurate costings of individual items. within the total vehicle operating costs, are required.
It is quite possible that an Inland Revenue inspector would accept accounts shown in this same way provided it was made clear what was being done and that good grounds could be given for doing so.
This case, in any event, applied only until April 5 this year. For the tax year ending April 5 1973 the changes in the Budget, which will allow the original cost of a vehicle to be fully depreciated in the first year, will make such a practice no longer necessary,