Rear seat belts

[tan-all-over]

I know its been asked many times before BUT my friend said today that finally they have passed a new law regarding rear seat belts in side facing motorhomes. He said that the law now says that you can not carry passengers in the back if you have side facing seats. He told me that ALL passengers have to wear seat belts. I need to find out if this is true has we carry our family and friends with us. :help: (we own an Autocruise with side facing seats)

 

[veedubmatt]

i did read up somewere if the van is older then 2001 you are fine

please do not hold me to that its just a quote of what i have read

 

[tan-all-over]

rear seats

we phoned the ministry of transport and vosa and they say that its NOT against the law but they do not recommend it, its up to the passengers if they do. Children under 14 must be in belts so there you are. We put our grandaughter (13) in the front seat with a belt. (Our motorhome is 2005) and this applies what ever the age of the motorhome.

 

[al n sal]

we phoned the ministry of transport and vosa and they say that its NOT against the law but they do not recommend it, its up to the passengers if they do. Children under 14 must be in belts so there you are. We put our grandaughter (13) in the front seat with a belt. (Our motorhome is 2005)

this is how i understood it too, also to bear in mind, I also believe an officer could also do you carrying an unsafe load if he wanted,if carrying unrestrained passengers....... its a grey area, but i wouldn't want to be the one to prove a point......either way, accident or law

 

[kenjones]

My van has one forward facing rear seat with seatbelt and a double sideways seat without seatbelts.
It recently passed a MOT test done by the VW main agent and I was told there is no requirement for belts on side facing seats.
They did implement the new rules on towing electrics by testing all functions on the 13 pin plug which was thankfully all working as it should.

 

[AuldTam]

When I MOT'd my van in February the examiner came into the waiting room and said to me that he could only mot the van as a 3 seater as it only had 3 forward facing seats with seatbelts fitted, which was fine with me as I have the van insured as a 3 seater, but afterwards I wondered why he had pointed this out. He also asked me if I wanted the towbar and electrics tested, he said it doesnt come into force till next month but he just wanted to try out his test equipment, it passed.

I assume changes are about to be made to MOT's which will affect motorhomes and self builds. If any site members are MOT examiners they may be able to clarify.