Taxing move on trailers
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• Bodybuilding firms delivering empty trailers are being threatened with prosecution for failing to display an 0-licence and the correct vehicle excise duty even though the Department of Transport says they are exempt.
Greater Manchester police told Mark Rathbone of Lancashire-based Mercums Commercial that he will be prosecuted for failing to show an 0licence and the correct VED disk after one of his drivers was stopped in Leigh, near Wigan, while delivering a trailer. Trailer repairers face similar problems.
Rathbone claims DOT forms state clearly that operators employed in the traction of empty trailers are exempt from 0-licensing. But Manchester police say he will be charged under the precedent set by the High Court case Booth vs DPP 1992. It stated the trailer constituted "goods carried" and should be taxed accordingly.