Unofficial weight plate confusion
Page 26
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
The police recently took my LandRover to a weighbridge and found that the rear axle weight exceeded that on the manufacturer's plate by 13%.
I have received a summons under Regulation 80(1)(a) of the Construction and Use Regulations but, as I see it, that regulation applies only where a maker's plate has to be fitted under Regulation 66. Dual-purpose vehicles are exempt from Regulation 66, and the Land-Rover is such a vehicle. What are your views?
A You should plead not
guilty to the charge on the grounds that Regulation 80(1)(a) does not apply to your vehicle.
I agree that your Land-Rover is a dual-purpose vehicle and as such is exempt from Regulation 66 of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986, so any maker's plate it is equipped with has not been fitted "in accordance with Regulation 66". As the weight restriction in Regulation 80(1)(a) applies only to a vehicle fitted with a plate in accordance with Regulation 66 it follows that the restriction does not apply.
Jim Duckworth, editor of Kitchin's Road Transport Law and head of Transport Law Services, Woking, Surrey, helps solve your legal problems in this monthly column. Write to Commercial Motor Any Questions, Room L431, Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5AS, or phone CM's 24-hour legal hotline (081-661 3689) giving your name and number. Duckworth's answers are an interpretation of the law and should not be seen as definitive.