Heavy recovery
Page 46
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Recovery vehicles have a wide range of exemptions in respect of excise duty, 0licensing, testing and plating, and driver's hours and tachographs. But will they be able to recover loaded 44-tanners?
The position is that the Construction and Use GTV1 limit is 38 tonnes. No vehicle can exceed that weight, so if a recovery vehicle rescues a vehicle and load of 38 tonnes, let alone 44 tonnes, and if a substantial part of the load is borne by the recovery vehicle, then that vehicle would be overloaded.
It will ali depend on the recovery vehicle. Provided Construction and Use regulations are not breached, a recovery vehicle can recover a vehicle and any goods which were carried on the disabled vehicle immediately before it broke down.
if the Construction and Use regs are going to allow 44 tonnes, it seems—under Regulation 75 13)—that the maximum total weight of all trailers drawn by a locomotive at anyone time, whether laden or unladen, shall not exceed 40,650kg. So it would appear that the only recovery vehicle able to draw vehicles of 38 tonne GTW (but not 44 tonnes) will be a heavy locomotive.The locomotive must fall within the C&U definition of a mechanically propelled vehicle with an unladen weight of over 7,370kg, which is not constructed to carry a load. The courts have indicated that this includes a heavy recovery vehicle equipped with a special arm to assist in recovery, as this does not generally constitute the carriage of a load by a locomotive such that a substantial pad of the load would be borne by the vehicle. It would seem that a laden artic or drawbar up to 38 tonnes could be recovered by a locomotive without transhipping the load, but there may be some doubt about the recovery of a 44-tonne artic. It must always be remembered that the locomotive must be suitable for the vehicle it is recovering.