Tachographs in Landy's

A friend of mine was told the other day that they needed a tacho to be fitted to the Landy as they were moving stuff for the farm with trailer on the back that was 3000Kg gross weight, which made the gross train weight more than 3500Kg and therefore an "in scope" goods vehicle.
I have checked the FTA year book for 2010 and it clearly states that certain vehicles - mostly cars and people carriers - are exempt the weight rules. It also states that Dual purpose vehicles are exempt.
In order for it to be dual purpose a vehicle has to meet 3 very complicated statements which basically describe an estate car of some sort - OR HAVE FOUR WHEEL DRIVE - so any Land Rover what ever the weight or body style is dual purpose vehicle and therefore exempt, so we can now all smile and wave politely at the man from VOSA when we drive past towing a trailer with another landy on the back, even if we are being paid in beer vouchers - result.

we use 110's for work with 3500kg trailers and HAVE to have tachos fitted. We put up marquees all over the south west and have been told off a few times in the past!

As far as i know it if it is registered to a business towing a trailer with a gross weight over 3.5 tonnes it has to have a tacho fitted. Applies to all vehicles

SCOTSMAN said:

As far as i know it if it is registered to a business towing a trailer with a gross weight over 3.5 tonnes it has to have a tacho fitted. Applies to all vehicles

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i had a feeling but have never done anythin about it, if i get pulled il just say an doing a favour for the father inlaw

I think all the change in the tacho laws for land rovers ect being used for business use happened as a result of the selby train versus LR on the track incident. If i remember correctly the chap in the landy was towing other vehicles on a trailer and fell asleep,went down an embankment and derailed a train. Or did i dream it?

No...you didn't dream it....that numpty spent all night on puter, chatting...then set off for long drive. Unfortunately, he killed others, not himself!
Tacho changes, however, are just an ongoing campaign by VOSA/DSA to restrict various types of vehicles - ie transits being limited to 70mph, increased range of tacho use, limitations on outside lane use on motorways, and soon to be - the use of long-distance average speed cameras on motorways! Big Brother is watching.....

Hi Gents, reading all your comments, just because a uniform says so it ain't neccesarily right - I have had examples of plod quoting incorrect speed limits - particularly small car derived van drivers being told they can only do 50 on A roads cos they are in a commercial vehicle when in fact a CDV is under the same limits as a car....

If in doubt get a copy of the Freight Transport Association 2010 Year book of Road Transport Law from the library.

I have one because my job involves keeping my employers fleet Legal.

page 134 lists the exemptions to operator licencing and therefore Tacho usage - Item No 2 states dual purpose vehicles. Page 314 then describes Dual Purpose vehicles, Any vehicle with four wheel drive is a dual purpose vehicle and ..... exempt.
Our fleet has Land Rovers (hard top defenders) with vehicle recovery trailers - we don't and won't fit tacho's - too much hassle and expense,
If stopped just quote the dual purpose vehicle exemption, they must and can't proove you wrong in order to proceed.

erm..... whats a tachograph??

-Defender110- said:

erm..... whats a tachograph??

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int it one o those things you draw patterns with ?

thats what i thought?! y would you want that in ur depender?!

If you are working for hire or reward then even if you just hook an empty trailer on the back, the permissable train weight goes up and you require a tacho.
Lots of builders falling foul of the law on this.

wantaquad said:

Hi Gents, reading all your comments, just because a uniform says so it ain't neccesarily right - I have had examples of plod quoting incorrect speed limits - particularly small car derived van drivers being told they can only do 50 on A roads cos they are in a commercial vehicle when in fact a CDV is under the same limits as a car....

If in doubt get a copy of the Freight Transport Association 2010 Year book of Road Transport Law from the library.

I have one because my job involves keeping my employers fleet Legal.

page 134 lists the exemptions to operator licencing and therefore Tacho usage - Item No 2 states dual purpose vehicles. Page 314 then describes Dual Purpose vehicles, Any vehicle with four wheel drive is a dual purpose vehicle and ..... exempt.
Our fleet has Land Rovers (hard top defenders) with vehicle recovery trailers - we don't and won't fit tacho's - too much hassle and expense,
If stopped just quote the dual purpose vehicle exemption, they must and can't proove you wrong in order to proceed.

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Is it a recovery company you work for? If it is, you can drive a 62 mile (100km) radius of your depot without using a tacho anyway.

recovery trucks recovering brokendown vehicles from the side of the road are also operator licence exempt.

any vehicle under 3.5 tons is also exempt from operator licence. However, add the trailer and you are now over 3.5 tons.

are your landys registered as recovery? if they are, then they are no longer dual purpose vehicles as the sole purpose of that vehicle is to attend breakdowns. Recovery vehicles are only exempt from the tacho regs providing they are on recovery work. Therefore they cannot be dual purpose as they are registered as recovery which has only the one purpose.

The recovery industry is a very grey area all round. VOSA and the police agree on nothing. One will nick you for specing an untaxed car, the other will nick you cos it's a trailer. They'll both ticket you for not using a trailerboard, yet it hasn't beeen a legal requirement for 10 years......... bla bla bla.

Is it a recovery company you work for? If it is, you can drive a 62 mile (100km) radius of your depot without using a tacho anyway.

recovery trucks recovering brokendown vehicles from the side of the road are also operator licence exempt.

any vehicle under 3.5 tons is also exempt from operator licence. However, add the trailer and you are now over 3.5 tons.

are your landys registered as recovery? if they are, then they are no longer dual purpose vehicles as the sole purpose of that vehicle is to attend breakdowns. Recovery vehicles are only exempt from the tacho regs providing they are on recovery work. Therefore they cannot be dual purpose as they are registered as recovery which has only the one purpose.

The recovery industry is a very grey area all round. VOSA and the police agree on nothing. One will nick you for specing an untaxed car, the other will nick you cos it's a trailer. They'll both ticket you for not using a trailerboard, yet it hasn't beeen a legal requirement for 10 years......... bla bla bla.


I THINK THE OUTCOME IS " THE LAWS AN ARSE" especially VOSA and driver laws in general,but dont start me on that one.

wantaquad said:

they were moving stuff for the farm with trailer on the back

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A lot of agri use is exempt - check the regs. I believe they are closing up the "dual purpose vehicle" exemption though.

I don't work for a recovery company - I work for one of, if not the biggest fleet in the country - we do use the landy's for some recovery work but they are not registered as recovery vehicles, even our recovery vehicles are not, mostly because a 62 mile range isn't enough. As I said on my earlier post this years 2010 road transport Law year book states in black and white that a dual purpose vehicle is exempt operator licencing, (regardless of weight) and if your vehicle has four wheel drive it is a dual purpose vehicle. Builders should always quote the dual purpose exemption.

VOSA and the police agree on nothing.

In my experiance VOSA agree with no one not even themselves.:blabla::blabla::blabla: is what they like to say.

wantaquad said:

I have one because my job involves keeping my employers fleet Legal.

page 134 lists the exemptions to operator licencing and therefore Tacho usage - Item No 2 states dual purpose vehicles. Page 314 then describes Dual Purpose vehicles, Any vehicle with four wheel drive is a dual purpose vehicle and ..... exempt.

Click to expand...

If you want your employers fleet to remain legal you need to fit tachographs in your Land Rovers

Operator licencing has nothing to do with Tachograph usage, if a vehicle with a GVW of 3500kg is being used for Hire and Reward and you tow a trailer with an unladen weight of 1020kg or below it requires a tachograph, if the trailer is over 1020kg unladen then an operators licence is also required.

The only exception for the trailer rule is a vehicle under 3500kg towing a small trailer which takes it to 3500kg, ie a 3050kg GVW landy towing a 450kg GVW tailer.

Hire or reward is also a grey area as reward could be a cup or rosette won at a motor racing event or gymkhana.

Another point worth mentioning though it doesn't apply to land rovers as they can tow 3500kg is the towing vehicle has to match or exceed the capacity of the trailer ie a 3500kg transit with a train weight of 6300kg can't pull a 3500kg trailer even when the trailer is empty.