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Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 11:46 pm
by GB_Groundworks
thats actually not true, you only need a tacho if your main jobis driving if your carrying your own goods and materials within a 60 miles radius you dont need a tacho, also utilities work is tacho exempt.
If you are delivering machines for hire then you do as your solely driving
dan there will be a plate for the car that has the maximum permissible loadings for it, navara is 4700kg
the 3.2 swb shogun
Spec reads:
Gross Combination Mass = 5160Kg
GVM=2660Kg
Tare (Kerb Mass) = 2085Kg
Payload = 575Kg
Maximum towing capacity (with brakes) 2500Kg
Towball down load = 250Kg
i fancy i go in one of those VW amoraks 
got the td6 out the toureg havent they? my mum had the v12 diesel toureg that was a monster
Edited By GB_Groundworks on 1310813586
Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 9:02 am
by Dave_L
V10 diesel wasn't it Giles?
You're spot on with the 60 mile radius and own goods. VOSA have far more power these days and they know who to pull over....
Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 11:51 am
by GB_Groundworks
Yeah v10 sorry it's the s8 that's got the v12 hehe but those amoraks look lovely. My mum had it for two months then her conscious and green piece membership meant at 12-16mpg she wouldn't keep it
Edited By GB_Groundworks on 1310813748
Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 1:11 pm
by haggistini
stunning truck im sure one passed me in cheshire ? but what a shite name!!!
Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 3:01 pm
by DNgroundworks
Giles i dont know where you got them figures from but for the swb equippe commercial shogun it has a towing capacity of 3000 kgs, Got that figure off the mitsubishi website.
And Giles is right about the tacho, i have a book here from vosa and we are exempt.
Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 4:04 pm
by GB_Groundworks
yeah thats the towing capacity based on the engine the chasis and the breaks and not on the public highway the figure i quoted are so you are legal.
the manufacturer quoted towing capacity is the ability of the vehicle to pull off on a 12% gradient with said load on, not its road legal load.
like the defender has towing capacity of 3500kg but not on the road etc
its like saying the towing capacity of a 500hp artic is 200 tons but unless youve got the right axles and trailers etc you are legally only allowed a gross weight of 40 tons etc.
theres a lot of duff information and hersay about towing like the 85% rule which is just a guidline anyway not a law.
like dans cabstar it says 3500kg towing limit but its gross train weight is 5400kg, so a kerb weight of 2382kg dry only gives you 3000kg ish to be in legal then when you add in driver tools, tool boxes etc trailer means you only get about 1.5-1.8 tons legally.
its quite a confusing area just finger crossed for everyone and avoid VOSA. im no saint hehe ive been and got 3 tons of soil tipped into my big plant trailer and groosed up at 7300kg with the navara oops
Edited By GB_Groundworks on 1310829457
Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 4:27 pm
by dig dug dan
And Giles is right about the tacho, i have a book here from vosa and we are exempt.
how up to date is that dan, as i researched into this recently, and discovered the rules changed last year, which concur with MSH
Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 5:37 pm
by DNgroundworks
Well i got the book when i bought my trailer last year ill quote fromn it now.
TOWING AND THE LAW
Exemptions from the requirement to fit a tachograph
"Vehicles with a maximum permissible weight of not more than 7.5t carrying material or equipment for the drivers use in the course of his work within a 50 km radius of the place where the vehicle is normally based, provided that driving the vehicle does not constitute the drivers main activity."
Barlow trailers gave me this book and highlighted that passage and said to carry it with me in my truck, they said if i was to get pulled by VOSA then show them the highlighted passage and tell them nicely that according to this you understand that you are exempt.
Like Giles says its a very tricky area and vosa cant interpret their own legislation they just seem to make the rules up for each individual driver. I reckon that even if you have a tacho, b+e licence, everything secure they would get you for something else anyway, like axle loadings, or an underweight tow vehicle or a list of a hundred other things that no normal person can understand, interpret or implement. Again as Giles says i think if you do your best what else can you do except than get a degree in bloody towing law and just hope that you dont get pulled!
Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 5:54 pm
by DNgroundworks
See here - vosa website
http://www2.dft.gov.uk/pgr....ods.pdf
Start at page 7 and go from there. Alternatively go to page 11 scroll down near the bottom of the page and you will see the exemption i mentioned above.
Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 5:56 pm
by DNgroundworks
http://www.ukpoliceonline.co.uk/index.p ... -trailers/
The above is someone who posted the question on a police website to ask what they made of the law.
Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 7:14 pm
by GB_Groundworks
it was featured in earthmovers 2 months or so ago about towing and tachos, specifically tailored for plant etc and thats what they said having vosa and legal advice that if your main job is not driving then you are exempt from the EU driver hours rules i.e tacho.
Dan whats that preston exclusive homebase contractors thing in your sig? homebase the diy shed?
fingers crossed and do all possible to avoid a tug from vosa
Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 7:14 pm
by msh paving
ignorance off the law is no defence,my info came from 4 different buisness assoicates all towing trailers behind 4x4 isuzu,toyata land cruser and ford transit,the last man was done 6 weeks ago trailer behind isusu £2000 fine and had to have tacho fitted £1000 cost,once you exceed 3.5 ton gross you come into tacho rules, but soon as trailer is took off drive as long as you like.i'm not a expert but 4 people getting done for same thing seams to prove it to me,utilities are excempt ,MSH
Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 7:29 pm
by pickwell paving
We got pulled by vosa at the end of last year with a 1.5 tonner on a trailer behind our tranny crew cab, because of a cock up on another job we had to go somewhere else which meant borrowing a trailer from a firm we subbie for, they weighed us and we were under weight, then they started about distances from base and we were over the 50 km from our base but we argued that we weren't from where we picked the trailer up from and they let us off, he even said if you get the reg plate off your van and on the trailer by the time he'd done the paper work he wouldn't do us for not having one!
Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 8:22 pm
by dig dug dan
I have been wrangling over this tacho law for some years now, and when i ordered my new truck, i had one fitted. I then had to get a drivers card (£38 lasts for three years).
Everytime i go over 30mph the damn thing says i am speeding!!. I have tried to get it altered, and no one seems to be able to help me. It is supposed to be calibrated too, but again, to no avail
I have tried to comply with the rules, but its not easy trying to stick to them in this way, for such a stupid thing as drivers hours.
Who here ever travels more than 4 hours to get to a job??
Incidentally, the 50kph rule is only 30miles, which isn't a lot!
Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 8:37 pm
by DNgroundworks
Giles yes its Homebase the diy shed lol, what it is homebase have exclusive approved contractors for each individual store and im exclusive to both preston branches, manchester branches will have their own contractors who their staff will promote and likewise staff at the preston branches will promote my business if customers ask for advice or if they can reccomend a contractor.
Ive to approve the artwork and that yet but it should all start in about 3 weeks time.