Cutting tax cuts weight
Page 42
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We have used a modified Leyland tractor unit as a recovery vehicle but, as it is only used a few times a year, we are reviewing its use due to the £750 cost of the road tax.
If we were to down-rate the plated weight or change to a smaller vehicle to reduce the tax rate would that reduce the weight of vehicle we can tow on a rigid bar ?
If we changed to a 7.5tonne recovery vehicle could it be driven on a standard car licence for all towing work ?
A Down-plating a vehicle
simply means reducing its permitted gross weight and gross train weight.
Consequently, down-plating the recovery vehicle in order to pay less vehicle excise duty would necessarily involve a reduction in the weight of vehicles you could recover either by suspended or straight tow.
A broken-down vehicle which is being drawn by the recovery vehicle—either suspended or on a bar—is regarded in law as a trailer. You should ensure, therefore, that the permitted gross train weight of the recovery vehicle is sufficient to cover the total weight of the combination of vehicles.
A recovery vehicle plated up to and including 7.5 tonnes gross weight comes within Category Cl for driving licence purposes and can be driven by the holder of a Category B licence because the driving licence regulations state that Category B also covers Category Cl. The vehicle add also draw a trailer not exceeding 750kg permissible gross weight and still be within Category Cl.
Category Cl+E, which is also covered by a Category B licence, provides that trailers over 750kg can be drawn by a Category Cl vehicle but subject to a limit of 8.25 tonnes on the permissible maximum weight of the combination (ie the permitted gross weight of both vehicles added together). This means that to tow a trailer exceeding 750kg the recovery vehicle would have to be plated for less than 7.5 tonnes gross weight.
Consequently, if your truck was plated for 7.5 tonnes it could not draw a trailer which exceeded 750kg permitted maximum weight due to the combination limit.
Not only would the combination not come within Category Cl+E but there is no other driving licence category for a 7.5-tonne truck drawing a trailer heavier than 750kg. Even a Category C or C+E licence does not cover that combination because those licences apply only to motor vehicles exceeding 7.5 tonnes gross weight.
Next January, when changes are made to the driving licence law to comply with an EC Directive, the 8.25tonne combination limit is to be increased to 12 tonnes. When announcing this change in 1994, the DVLA said the holder of an existing licence would remain limited to 8.25 tonnes on Category CI +E and to operate at the higher weight would have to take a driving test. We cannot say whether this will in fact happen until regulations are laid before Parliament.