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Lights in a lay-by?
Is it illegal to park an
LGV in a designated lay-by at night with no lights? Does it matter if the lay-by has a continuous white line, a dotted white line, cats eyes or a hedge between it and a dual carriageway? A If a heavy goods vehicle
is parked on a road between sunset and sunrise its front and rear lamps, numberplate lamp, side-marker lamps and end-outline marker lamps must be kept lit. This requirement is contained in Regulation 24 of the Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989.
For the purposes of the regulations, "road" includes the carriageway, footpath, verges, central reservation and, in fact, everything between the fences or walls bordering the road. A lay-by next to a carriageway is certainly part of the road and vehicles should display lights when parked there at night.
If the lay-by is open for use by the public it counts as a road, even if it is separated from the carriageway by a verge or hedge. Only roads to which the public do not have access are outside the lighting regulations.
Police often turn a blind eye to parking without lights in a lay-by but that does not mean lights are not required. If there was a serious accident due to someone crashing into vehicles parked in a lay-by without lights, no doubt the police would then stop unlit vehicles parking in that lay-by.
Licence doubts
I hold a Category B licence to drive vans up to 7.5 tonnes. Can I drive a tractor unit which weighs less than 7.5 tonnes? Can I drive a 7.5tonne articulated vehicle with this licence?
I have a provisional C+E licence. Can! still drive an artic or do I have to pass a Category C test first?
A While you say the tractor
unit weighs less than 7.5 tonnes it is not possible, without knowing its plated gross weight, to say whether you can drive it on a Category 13 driving licence.
In the driving licence regulations, vehicles are defined in relation to a category of licence. Goods vehicles are described according to their maximum authorised mass (plated weight); not their unladen weight.
Unless the tractor in question is a light vehicle fitted with a fifth-wheel, its plated gross weight is likely to be more than 7.5 tonnes so you would not be able to drive it on your Category B licence.
The Category B licence (if it was granted before ljanuary 1997 or you passed a test before that date) will entitle you to drive an articulated vehicle which has a plated train weight not over 7.5 tonnes.
[twill also allow you to drive an articulated vehicle with a total unladen weight not exceeding 3.05 tonnes regardless of its plated train weight.
A provisional Category C+ E licence granted before 1 January 1997 will continue to authorise its holder to drive that category of vehicle, but to obtain a full licence the holder will now have to pass both a theory test and a practical test.
Since 1 January 1997 every applicant bra provisional C+E licence must already hold a full Category C licence.
Six-anik exemption We operate two vehicles for loading and shunting demountable bodies between our premises which are on either side of a narrow road to which the public has access. One vehicle is a 17-tonne rigid taxed at the goods rate. The other is a Daf 2500 tractor with fifth-wheel and sub-frame removed but fitted with a drop-pin coupling to able centrebogie trailers to be drawn. This vehicle is taxed at the haulage rate.
Both vehicles are used to carry demountable bodies to and from the premises at each side of the road but neither of them covers more than six miles a week on the road. Can you advise us on what exemptions there are from road tax, plating and testing, 0-licensing and LGV driver licensing on this work?
I A If the road between your
premises is not repairable at the public expense, even though the public has access to it, the vehicles in question will not need to be taxed when using it.
Assuming the road is repairable at public expense, the road tax exemption in the Vehicles Excise and Registration Act 1994 for vehicles travelling not more than six miles a week between premises was abolished in July 1995 by the Finance Act 1995.
It was replaced by an exemption relating only to agricultural, horticultural or forestry vehicles covering not more than 1.5km on public roads between two areas.
The only other beneficial tax category for a vehicle travelling short distances between premises is the Special Vehicle rate which includes a works truck.
However, a works truck is defined as "a vehicle designed for use in private premises..."
The vehicles in question have been designed for use on roads, not for use in private premises. Consequently, the goods rate and haulage rates of tax are appropriate to your vehicles.
Your Daf 2500 appears to have ceased to be a goods vehicle so it would not be subject to plating and testing. But in any event, Schedule 2 of the Goods Vehicles (Plating and Testing Regulations) 1988 gives exemption from these requirements for a vehicle (and any trailer drawn) used only on public roads to pass from one part to another part of land in the vehicle keeper's occupation and not travelling more than six miles in any calendar week.
A vehicle used on a road only in passing from private premises to other private premises in the immediate neighbourhood belonging (except for a vehicle use solely on excavation or demolition work) to the same person, and not travelling more than six miles a week on a road, is also exempt from 0licensing under Schedule 3 of the Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Regulations 1995.
Note that this exemption refers to premises instead of land and to the premises "belonging" to a person rather than being "occupied" by the vehicle keeper.