Axle confusion over VED rate
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by Sally Nash • The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in Swansea has been forced to point out to its Northern Ireland colleagues (DVLNI) that they have been misinterpreting the law on the use of vehicles with lifting axles.
A dispute began last year when Paul Thompson, of Belfast-based Thompson Transport Services, was stopped at a public weighbridge. His empty 38-tonne 3+3 artic had a tag axle and a trailer axle lifted at the time. Nine months after the incident Thompson was ordered to pay duty arrears of £689, based on the 2+2 VED rate of £2,750, which is about double the VED payable on a 3+3.
"They said that all axles should be on the ground at all times for a 3+3," said Thompson. But the DITLA in Swansea has since admitted: "Northern Ireland got it wrong. We've now pointed the legislation out to them."
A letter of apology has gone out to Thompson, who had not paid the extra amount. Keith Murray, enforcement officer at the DVLNI, told him: "Having spoken to the policy branch at DVLA, Swansea, it is obvious that the interpretation placed by DVLNI on the use of vehicles with retractable axles has been wrong."
Murray confirms that the VED payable is related to the number of axles on the vehicle; not to the number of axles in contact with the road.
The staff in the enforcement section have been advised of the error, says Murray: they have been told how to deal with "such detections" in the future.
But Thompson believes that other operators may be paying too much VED: "How many other people have been caught up by this we just don't know."