VI queries accuracy of new trailer guide
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III The Vehicle Inspectorate says a letter from The Trailer and Towing Advisory Service inviting operators to buy a booklet referring to August's legislation changes concerning "off-road" trailer-towing vehicles and tachographs is "technically misleading".
The £20 booklet aims to outline the legislation which states that drivers' hours regulations should be brought in for drivers of "vehicles used for the carriage of goods where the maximum permissible gross weight of the vehicle (including any trailer) exceeds 3.5 tonnes".
The letter claims the change may mean that a "Ford Fiesta van towing an unladen goods trailer may require a tacho graph to be fitted, as may the same vehicle towing a caravan, because the towing vehicle has the capacity to carry goods".
It adds that "any private car towing a trailer with the ability to carry goods may be required to have a tachograph fitted and used if the carriage (or potential carriage) of the goods is in any way commercial".
A spokesman for the VI says these examples are incorrect: "This is complex legislation. Even if a combined weight is over 3.5 tonnes there are a number of exemptions, depending on the nature of the operation and distance travelled."
The legislation does not cover vehicles which are used for noncommercial activities.
But Steve Hanley, technical consultant at TTAS who wrote the booklet, says: "The letter is not misleading. I hope to talk to the VI about their concerns. If I am wrong I will send amendments out to everyone who has bought a booklet."