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Are Vehicle Weight Margins Too Fine?

26th May 1939, Page 26
26th May 1939
Page 26
Page 26, 26th May 1939 — Are Vehicle Weight Margins Too Fine?
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

A CHAIRMAN of magistrates suggested, in a recent case concerning goods-vehicle taxation, that manufacturers should not leave such a fine. margin in the unladen weights of vehicles, because this makes it very difficult for operators to adhere to the conditions set out in their licences.

Many users will agree with this point of view. Vehicles which, when purchased, may be only a few pounds below a particular limit of unladen weight will, after a little use, especially if employed for the conveyance of wet loads, probably receive an increment of weight which may easily bring them into a higher tax category. It is well known, also, that the wet and mud adhering to practically inaccessible parts of a vehicle can weigh quite a considerable amount.

It is not that such cases are isolated. There are probably hundreds, if not thousands of them, and the operators of these vehicles are always liable to be caught and penalized.

It was pointed out in the case to which we have referred that because offences of this nature are difficult to detect, the penalty is made high, the maximum being £20, or three times the difference in taxation due, whichever be the higher.

In some cases increases in weight are quite innocently effected through the addition, by owners or drivers, of fittings, often small, but important where the margin is already not generous.

Of course, it is not always the fault of the chassis manufacturers. To please their customers they must build down to certain weights and then give a limit to which the. bodybuilder is requested to work, and it may be that the latter exceeds his allowance. Here, again, it is almost as difficult to construct a body to within very definite limits as it is to build a chassis to within a few pounds, for even the paintwork, where the areas are considerable, will add quite a large amount.

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