Yes, the discs for Northern Ireland operators are the same colours as GB. Orange discs are issued for vehicles on restricted licences, blue discs are issued for vehicles on standard national licences, green discs are issued for vehicles on standard international licences, and yellow discs are issued for vehicles on an interim licence.
UNDERINFLATED TYRES
How would enforcement determine whether a tyre is underinflated? Would it begin with a visual inspection?
Examiners have the option to take a tyre pressure measurement on steered and single wheel fitments where visual checks indicate serious underinflation of a tyre. DVSA’s Categorisation of defects advises an immediate prohibition would be issued if the pressure was 50% or less of the recommended pressure, or 50% or less of another tyre on the same axle, although they suggest the recommended tyre pressures are used as a reference where possible.
Where no recommended tyre pressure value is available or if there is doubt over marked tyre pressures on the vehicle, examiners would check the pressure on another tyre across the same axle to make a comparison.
GETTING CLEARANCE
We have just won a new contract to clear houses belonging to local authorities. Would this be classed as door-to-door waste as the items are from domestic properties?
House clearances would not be classed as door-to-door collections for the purposes of the Department for Transport’s long-standing interpretation, as there are a number of conditions that must be met. These are:
- it should be carried out either by a public authority or by a private undertaking under contract to a public authority;
- it should involve the primary collection of waste from household or commercial premises, including the collection of street cleansing waste (eg litter from public street bins), whereby the transport activity remains subsidiary to the collection. The waste collected from commercial premises must be similar to or of the same kind as that collected from households, it must be collected in the same way (ie door-to-door), it must not be subject to any special collection regime or special rules, and must be collected using the same vehicles;
- such operations might involve longer aggregate journeys where there are a number of stops, particularly in rural areas, but such journeys should not normally exceed a radius of 50 kilometres from the place where a vehicle is normally based.
Ultimately, the interpretation would be a matter for the courts to decide.
BUSMAN’S HOLIDAY
One of our drivers has been asked to drive a friend’s truck down to a local truck festival event. As this is not through work and is personal, it is not for hire or reward. The vehicle will also be empty. Would this be in scope of EU rules?
Even though they are driving a vehicle that is not for hire or reward, the vehicle is still under EU regulations regarding driving hours and tachographs when being used on a public highway. The driver can of course do this, but he will need to put his tachograph in and ensure he adheres to the relevant daily/weekly rests that are required.
A WIDER QUESTION
We have been asked to transport a load that is 4.5 metres wide. ESDAL (The Electronic Service Delivery for Abnormal Loads) has stated that this falls under a Special Types General Order (STGO) – is this the case?
In this case, that is correct as indivisible loads which are abnormal only in respect of their dimensions and not their weight, may be able to be carried on standard vehicles subject to the construction and use regulations. But loads wider than 4.3m cannot be carried under construction and use regulations and movements therefore, must comply with STGO rules.
IN FULL VIEW
Could you advise if is it a legal requirement for a driver to notify the DVLA if they start wearing eye correction (glasses) for driving.
You must tell DVLA if you have any problem with your eyesight that affects both of your eyes (excluding short/long sightedness, or if you are colour blind), or the remaining eye if you only have one eye.
If a driver does have to start wearing glasses for driving, this would have to be notified to the DVLA as the driver will have a code 01 (eyesight correction, for example glasses or contact lenses) added to their driving licence.
The minimum standard for cars is a visual acuity of at least decimal 0.5 (6/12) measured on the Snellen scale. For lorry and bus drivers, you must have a visual acuity at least 0.8 (6/7.5) measured on the Snellen scale in your best eye and at least 0.1 (6/60) on the Snellen scale in the other eye.
WHEN A CAR IS A VAN
Can you tell me what a car-derived van is please for speed limit purposes?
A car-derived van means a goods vehicle which is constructed or adapted as a derivative of a passenger vehicle, and which has a maximum weight not exceeding two tonnes.
As a rule, from the outside, these vehicles will look like the size of a car, but on the inside the vehicle will look like and function as a van, because:
- there will be no rear seats, rear seat belts or mountings
- there will be a payload area with floor panel in the rear of the vehicle
- there will be no side windows in the rear of the vehicle - or if present, side windows will be opaque and fixed (with no means of opening or closing).
ON THE OFFENCES
I have been looking through DVSA Enforcement Sanctions Policy and in the regulation column there is a reference to the legislation, which is followed by SO and a number, what does this mean?
The term SO means Statutory Offence, and the number after the letters refers to the maximum fine that could be levied for that offence, there are five such levels, £200, £500, £1,000, £2,500 and, for a level 5 fine, for offences committed after 13 March 2015 the fine is unlimited.
*www.logistics.org.uk/mac
