How thick am I?

[merl]

For my last self-build, I took the van to the local weighbridge the day after I had the V5C back with the "Motor Caravan" reclassification, got a ticket and kept it safe with the logbook as a precaution

Really? That doesn't sound like the sort of thing you'd do David

 

[Pudsey Bear]

I used to drive 7.5t trucks for another company to cover for holidays etc and he wouldn't buy trucks after a certain build date as they were subject to lower speed limits than the older trucks, this was over twenty years ago and he did have to buy newer ones eventually as the trucks were starting to have expensive problems.

 

[colinm]

I used to drive 7.5t trucks for another company to cover for holidays etc and he wouldn't buy trucks after a certain build date as they were subject to lower speed limits than the older trucks, this was over twenty years ago and he did have to buy newer ones eventually as the trucks were starting to have expensive problems.

Was this when they started fitting speed limiters from the factory?

 

[mark61]

Don't think there was a time where newer trucks were subject to a lower speed limits, it's just it became law to fit speed limiter, which was set a few MPH lower than the limit.

 

[Geek]

You seem to forget that to be classified as a motor caravan certain things have to be included in the build, once you remove those items it's no longer a motor caravan.

No, I am not forgetting that. The definition of UW is that it only includes "items normally used on the road". Those things are part of the vehicle, but are not "normally used on the road".

 

[colinm]

No, I am not forgetting that. The definition of UW is that it only includes "items normally used on the road". Those things are part of the vehicle, but are not "normally used on the road".

To be classed as a 'motor caravan' certain things have to be included in the build, and those things will be "items normally used on the road", you might not need them to drive the vehicle, but that's totally irrelevant.

 

[Geek]

To be classed as a 'motor caravan' certain things have to be included in the build, and those things will be "items normally used on the road", you might not need them to drive the vehicle, but that's totally irrelevant.

You carry them on the road.
You don't use them on the road.
The legislation is specific. It says "used" it does not say "carried"

 

[colinm]

You carry them on the road.
You don't use them on the road.
The legislation is specific. It says "used" it does not say "carried"

And if not in the van it's not being used on the road as motorcaravan.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

How can they assess the unladen weight, do they take the base vehicle before conversion and call the converted part a load or something else?

 

[mark61]

How can they assess the unladen weight, do they take the base vehicle before conversion and call the converted part a load or something else?

Who knows, I got a feeling they will take the MIRO, - 75KG and leave you to challenge it, assuming that data is available to them.

 

[colinm]

How can they assess the unladen weight, do they take the base vehicle before conversion and call the converted part a load or something else?

The conversion is what makes it a 'motorcaravan', without the conversion it is not a motorcaravan and in most cases subject to lower speed limits. There is an opinion that whatever can be removed without a tool counts as load, but AFAIK it's never been tested in court, and very unlikely to.

 

[Thistle]

60mph is quite fast enough for my vans I have no interest in burning an excessive amount of fuel on motorways and dual carriageways. I only exceed 60 briefly when safely overtaking lorries etc.

on A roads I stick to 50 its a safer speed to be driving at in a heavy vehicle and again saves fuel.

Theres several examples online where tickets have been issued to apparently commercial vans exceeding the speed limit which have been cancelled once the owner has shown the vehicle was being used as a motor caravan.

the DVLA rejection letter from when they classi the conversion as a van with windows is also accepted as evidence.