We have recently acquired a towing ambulance for vehicle recovery. It is understood that there are limitations on the use
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of this equipment. Could you say what these are and do they refer to a
limited distance over which they can be used?
Towing ambulances are limited in speed but not in distance.
Regulation 4(12) (a) (ii) of the Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1973 limits the speed of operation of vehicles towing ambulances when they are not carrying a disabled vehicle to 20 mph. When carrying a disabled vehicle, a pneumatic tyred ambulance is limited to 30 mph and a solid-tyred ambulance to 20 mph.
Could you please tell me what are the maximum talties for not providing an endant with a vehicle and for ling inappropriate lighting?
The penalties for both these offences were increased by the ad Traffic Act 1974. For causing lermitting heavy motor vehicles to driven or hauled without proper w the maximum penalty is now 10, and for causing or permitting a Licle to be on the road in convention of provisions as to iting, etc, of vehicles the ximum is again £100.
Is it permissible to add removable ballast to an artic live unit to bring its unladen ghr up to exceed 73/4 tons and -eby allow it to draw more than trailer?
The number of trailers which can be drawn is governed by tion 65 of the Road Traffic Act 2. A heavy or light locomotive can w up to three trailers; a motor :tor, one if laden or two if aden; and a motor car or heavy tor car, one. Your artic tractive t is either a motor car or a heavy tor car and can, therefore, draw y one trailer.
iowever, it is not possible to alter lassificat ion to a light locomotive Hiding removable ballast. Section (7) of the Act defines a light )motive as "a mechanically pelled vehicle which is not conicted itself to carry a load ... and weight of which unladen does not eed 111/2 tons but does exceed )n the other hand, sub-section (9) es that an artic tractive unit shall Jeemed to be a vehicle itself conicted to carry a load, that case, the addition of ballast in artic tractive unit still leaves it definable as a vehicle constructed to carry h load, while one requirement for a light locomotive to be classified as such is that it should not be constructed to carry a load. In that case, the addition of ballast to exceed 71/4 tons unladen does not alter the classification of the tractive unit.
Q I ant involved in seasonal traffic which means that for a few months each year two of mr vehicles are delicenced. During this period I park them in the street outside my warehouse in dal time but I have been advised that this could lead to a prosecution. Can you Ohne if I am breaking the law?
A The Vehicle (Excise) Act 1971 and the Road Vehicle (Registration and Licensing) Regulations 1971 contain the law concerning the registration and licensing of motor vehicles. Section 1 of the Excise Act reads: "Subject to the.provisions of this Act, a duty of excise shall be charged in respect of every mechanically propelled vehicle used or kept on any public road in Great Britain and shall be paid upon a licence to be taken out by the person keeping the vehicle."
All mechanically propelled vehicles must be licenced — and it is an offence to "keep" an unlicenced vehicle on a road as well as "use" it. This would certainly apply to hauliers who having laid up a couple of lorries, surrendered their excise licence in order to receive a rebate, and short of space in his yard, parked the unlicenced lorries outside on the road. In the Excise Act an offence of keeping a vehicle without a licence is committed onIV if the vehicle is on a "public road" which is defined in the Act as a road which is repairable at the public expense.
There is an excise penalty of E50 or a penalty equal to five times the amount of duty chargeable in respect of the vehicle, whichever is the greater, for keeping a vehicle on a road without a licence. In addition, the offender is liable to pay back duty. A licence may be taken out for a 12-month period or where the annual rate of duty exceeds EA for four months.
Some special vehicles are exempt from licence duty, but they must be registered. These vehicles include firs engines, ambulances, road rollers, vehicles used in connection with life boats. invalid carriages and certain special road construction vehicles. A licence is not required when a vehicle is travelling to or from a place where a compulsory test is to be or has been carried out provided an appointment has been made for the test. There is also an exemption when the vehicle is actually being tested or when it is travelling to a place to be repaired having failed its test. Agaiil, this must be by previous appointment. This concession applies to the test for smaller vehicles carried out by authorized garages as well as to the DoE goods vehicle testing stations. There is nothing to say that the test station chosen must be the nearest one to where the vehicle is kept.
Q• I am told that there is a fur ther rate of Excise duty on vehicles drawing trailers. Does this mean that I have a further amount to pay on my artic tractive unit in addition to the road fund licence lee that I have already paid?
A Schedule 4, Table B to the Vehicles (Excise) Act 1971 shows the additional rate of duty payable on good vehicles used for drawing trailers. However, paragraph 6(l) of the schedule allows articulated vehicles (tractive unit and trailer) to be deemed to form a single vehicle, and the increase of duty for trailers is not therefore payable. The extra duty refers to vehicles pulling drawbar trailers.