More and more light commercial vehicles are hitting the road in the United Kingdom. These vehicles serve the purpose of general delivery, utility servicing, roadside assistance and much more. Most of these vehicles have to abide by tachograph regulations, but drivers are unaware. And the reason behind this is that the law is a bit vague when it comes to light commercial vehicles. So we are here to inform you about Tachograph regulations so that you do not get into trouble with the law. Let us first look at what rules apply to a trailer before moving on to other factors and penalties.
Trailers and Vans
Trailer attachments to pick-up trucks or vans make the regulations regarding trailers a bit confusing. But in reality, it is not a big head-scratcher. If it is a van that is carrying around a trailer, then both van tachograph and trailer tachograph rules apply. It, however, is when the overall weight of both the van and the trailer is more than 3.5 tonnes. In this case, you need a tachograph for the vehicle. Similarly, vehicles outside tachograph rules need tachographs if they drag along trailers, and the overall weight exceeds 3.5 tonnes. It is not difficult to understand, but most people are not aware of what a trailer attachment entails. Other than the weight issue, you will need to fit a tachograph to drive beyond 100 km of your base regularly. Now let us move on to a few key factors that affect Light commercial vehicles that you should know.
Factors That Affect Light Commercial Vans With Trailers
To make sure that your vehicle complies to the tachograph requirements, here is a small list to follow.
- Make sure that the weight of the vehicle does not surpass 3.5 tonnes.
- If you are travelling through Europe, then you need to look up the EU and EEA rules to not get into any trouble.
- Are you using your vehicle commercially? If not, then the rules will exempt you.
Let us look at possible penalties for violating tachograph rules.
Penalties
If you are using your vehicle commercially, and it exceeds 3.5 tonnes in weight, then you need a tachograph. However, if you do not comply with the rules, then you will have to pay a hefty fine. The amount can be within 2,500 pounds and 5,000 pounds. If you are lucky then all you will get is a warning, but it’s always better to be on the safe side. Now let us see a few exceptions in the rule.
A Few Exceptions
Here are some exceptions that do not fall under tachograph rules:
- Vehicles that do not go faster than 40km/h
- Emergency and armed-forces vehicles
- Breakdown recovery vans within 100 km of their base
- Vehicles that are not commercial and weigh less than 7.5 tonnes
- Mobile libraries that carry educational material
- Animal vans that travel a distance of 50km or less
Here is the bottom line of what you need to know about tachograph rules and how they affect vans and trailers.
Bottom line
Tachograph rules made easy, your van and trailer combination should not exceed the weight of 3.5 tonnes if for commercial use. There are exceptions, but for the average driver, these are the guidelines. Also, you have to go through the EU and EEA rules when you are travelling outside The UK. For effective transport consultation, you can always contact RWTCS whenever you want.