Exempting the 3.5-ton g.v.w. class
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• As recorded briefly in CM last week, the Minister has circulated for comment draft regulations which will exempt goods vehicles with a plated weight not exceeding 3.5 tons from all forms of carriers licensing. The exemptions will apply so long as a vehicle has a manufacturer's plate or a Ministry plate. It is intended that the exemptions shall take effect from October 1, thus putting goods vehicles not exceeding 3.5 tons plated in the same position as those not exceeding 30cwt unladen.
At the same time the Ministry is consolidating all the exemptions from carriers' licensing (with the exception of those already listed in Schedule 13 of the Road Traffic Act 1960) in one statutory instrument. The new regulations will be the Goods Vehicles (Carrier's Licences) (Exemptions) Regulations.
All the present exemptions from carriers' licensing will continue, and in fact are wider than those proposed for operators' licensing. For example, ordinary goods vehicles used by farmers under F excise licences retain their exemption from carriers' licensing under Schedule 13 of the 1960 Act, but will need to be covered by an operator's licence.
So all the Schedule 13, Road Traffic Act 1960 carriers' licence exemptions stand.
while Schedule 2 of the new regulations will have the following main effects:—
a) Existing exemptions for certain dual-purpose vehicles and their trailers have been consolidated into one overall exemption.
b) The exemptions for certain passenger vehicles and their trailers and for trailers drawn by p.s.v. have been simplified and extended.
cl Exemption for vehicles under a trade plate has been altered to take account of the new trade plate provision in the 1969 Finance Bill.
d) Military vehicle exemptions have been brought up to date
el There is now wider exemption for road rollers and their trailers.
f) New exemptions for electric vehicles and showmen's vehicles and trailers have been introduced to correspond with those proposed under operators' licensing.
gl An exemption is provided for Post Office vehicles not exceeding 5 tons unladen or 16 tons gross plated. GPO vehicles are already exempt as Crown vehicles but this exemption will cease to have effect when the Post Office becomes a public corporation on October 1 this year. The proposed exemption is to bridge the gap between this date and the introduction of operators' licensing, from which GPO vehicles will not be exempted.
h) Goods vehicles exceeding 30cwt unladen but not exceeding 3.5 tons gross plated will be exempt.