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What can I do with a dolly trailer?

23rd December 1993
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Page 24, 23rd December 1993 — What can I do with a dolly trailer?
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

I am planning to use a tractor unit converted to a haulage truck with a dolly trailer to move laden semitrailers to my customers. Can you tell me what the law says about using dolly trailers with semitrailers?

The type of dolly trailer described appears to come within the definition of a converter dolly in Regulation 3(2) of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986, It is defined as a trailer: (a) equipped with two or more wheels; (b) designed to enable a semitrailer to move without any part of its weight being directly superimposed on the drawing vehicle; and (c) not itself a part either of the semitrailer or the drawing vehicle.

When the converter dolly is used with a semi-trailer the combination is described as a composite trailer. Regulation 3(11) states that a composite trailer is to be treated as one trailer being neither a converter dolly nor a semitrailer for the purposes of: Regulation 7—overall length ; Regulation 75—gross trailer weight Regulation 76—gross train weight Regulation 78— axle weight; Regulation 83 restriction on the number of trailers which can be drawn.

For all other C and U purposes the dolly and semitrailer when coupled amount to two trailers. The dolly, if made on or after 1 October 1988 must have brakes complying with EC Directive 85/647 or, if made on or after 1 October 1991, EC Directive 88/194. It must also have a maker's plate, springs, pneumatic tyres, wings and, if made after Apri11985, spray suppression equipment

If the dolly was made on or after 1 May 1983 and its unladen weight exceeds 1,020kg there could be problems with rear underrun protection even though it is impracticable to fit any. While there is an exemption for a motor vehicle forming part of an artic it does not apply to a dolly trailer even though it has the same rear construction features as a tractor unit.

However, an exemption is provided for a vehicle "specially designed and constructed, and not merely adapted, to carry other vehicles loaded on to it from the rear". This exemption is aimed at car transporters but it looks as though it could be used for a dolly trailer also.

Converter dollies made after 1978 are subject to plating and testing. connection with my farm and cattle-dealing business.

Can you tell me what exemptions there are for these vehicles from the drivers' hours and records law?

There are two exemptions from the EC hours and tachograph law that are available to you on national transport operations. One is given to a vehicle used on an 'agricultural undertaking' for carrying goods within a 50km (31 mile) radius of the vehicle's normal base.

The second one is given to a vehicle used for carrying live animals between a farm and a local market or from a market to a local abattoir.

What amounted to a 'local market' was considered by the European Court in the case of DPP v. Sidney Hackett "1985" RTR 209 in which the company had claimed that a market 150 miles away from its farm was local.

The court ruled that a local market meant 'the market which, having regard to geographical circumstances, is the nearest to a particular farm and at which it is possible to buy or sell, as the case may be, according to the needs of the normal, averagedsized farms which may be considered typical of the area in question'.

The EC Court said the exemption could not be extended to transport operations which, either because of the unusual size of the farm concerned or bemuse the production of several farms was pooled, necessitate the use of markets further away than the nearest market normally serving farms in the area

A vehicle which is exempt from the EC law is subject to the British law.

The British hours law states that the driver must not drive for more than 10 hours a day and must not be on duty for more than 11 hours in the 24-hour period starting when he begins work. There is no requirement in the British law for a goods vehicle driver to take breaks from driving, daily or weekly rest periods.

The British records law requires a driver to complete a weekly sheet containing a summary of his driving and working hours. it is not required on any working day when a driver does not drive for more than four hours and outside a radius of 501cm of the vehicle's operating centre. Time spent driving off-mad for agricultural purposes is excluded from the four hours.

A tachograph record can be kept instead of a British record sheet

Tags

Organisations: European Court, EC Court
People: Sidney Hackett

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