Driving licence and vehicle weights.
Discussion
Hopefully a simple one, just want to confirm my hazy memory of the law is right when it comes to vehicle weights before I buy a pick-up truck, and I don't want any points or fines, or HGV training 
I've got the usual car and motorbike stuff on my licence (A,B and B1 iirc), and I got my licence in march 2000. If memory serves I can drive vehicles up to 3500KG on my car licence.
I don't plan on towing anything, so let's say I went away with some mates and their luggage on board, with a brimmed tank of diesel and that put me over the 3500KG mark.
Am I right in thinking I'd be on the wrong side of the law and would need a licence with category C entitlement to be on the right side of it, even though I was well within the limits of the trucks plated rating for MTM / GVW and so on?
Some of the american trucks have huge laden / carrying limits , and fall well under the 3500kg mark, hence my asking.
I'm fairly sure I'm right, but the thing that's putting doubt in my mind is seeing people driving other imported american stuff like Hummers and the like which are heavier than the pick ups I'm looking at. I assume these people are either driving regardless, all passed their test before 1997 or have C entitlement, or I've got the wrong end of the stick / missed something regarding imported vehicles.
I'll be going across the channel fairly frequently, so I'd say I'm likely to be stopped if they suspect I'm over the weight limit.
Cheers
I've got the usual car and motorbike stuff on my licence (A,B and B1 iirc), and I got my licence in march 2000. If memory serves I can drive vehicles up to 3500KG on my car licence.
I don't plan on towing anything, so let's say I went away with some mates and their luggage on board, with a brimmed tank of diesel and that put me over the 3500KG mark.
Am I right in thinking I'd be on the wrong side of the law and would need a licence with category C entitlement to be on the right side of it, even though I was well within the limits of the trucks plated rating for MTM / GVW and so on?
Some of the american trucks have huge laden / carrying limits , and fall well under the 3500kg mark, hence my asking.
I'm fairly sure I'm right, but the thing that's putting doubt in my mind is seeing people driving other imported american stuff like Hummers and the like which are heavier than the pick ups I'm looking at. I assume these people are either driving regardless, all passed their test before 1997 or have C entitlement, or I've got the wrong end of the stick / missed something regarding imported vehicles.
I'll be going across the channel fairly frequently, so I'd say I'm likely to be stopped if they suspect I'm over the weight limit.
Cheers
Edited by Stu R on Saturday 19th June 04:39
The license that covers you for up to 7.5 ton is a C1 which as you know were given out with car tests before 1997.If you buy an american pick as long as it is plated at 3500kgs GVW IMO you will not be weighed with say passengers and luggage on board,it would maybe be a different story with say a pallet of cement on the back of it so for example if you were driving an F-350 or a 3500 RAM diesel that weighed 3300kgs unladen and your passengers and luggage left you grossing 3700kgs and you were unlucky enough to be weighed IMO you would get away with being 200kgs over and there would be no mention of license entitlemnent.
I share the sentiments of the post above.
Whilst I have heard of builders and tradesmen regularly being given a check over in transit tippers etc I have never heard of anyone being subject to the same just carrying passengers and baggage.
The exception to this seems to be Hummer limos which according to a friend in London are now subject to a different licence requirement due to size and passenger carrying ability - I don't know if this applies to other americxan stretched trucks though.
Another thing to consider is that most people will get pulled by the ministry due to looking overladen, I don't think carrying people and baggage will cause a pickup with a 5 ton carrying ability to do this!
Whilst I have heard of builders and tradesmen regularly being given a check over in transit tippers etc I have never heard of anyone being subject to the same just carrying passengers and baggage.
The exception to this seems to be Hummer limos which according to a friend in London are now subject to a different licence requirement due to size and passenger carrying ability - I don't know if this applies to other americxan stretched trucks though.
Another thing to consider is that most people will get pulled by the ministry due to looking overladen, I don't think carrying people and baggage will cause a pickup with a 5 ton carrying ability to do this!
japcrazed said:
The license that covers you for up to 7.5 ton is a C1 which as you know were given out with car tests before 1997.If you buy an american pick as long as it is plated at 3500kgs GVW IMO you will not be weighed with say passengers and luggage on board,it would maybe be a different story with say a pallet of cement on the back of it so for example if you were driving an F-350 or a 3500 RAM diesel that weighed 3300kgs unladen and your passengers and luggage left you grossing 3700kgs and you were unlucky enough to be weighed IMO you would get away with being 200kgs over and there would be no mention of license entitlemnent.
The only exception to this is if an American pick up truck was brought into the country and IVA tested as opposed to SVA. This would then make it a class M1 passenger vehicle with a maximum permissable weight of 6500kg.The limit of what your license entitles you to drive isn't the actual weight of the vehicle, it's the plated GVW... In your case (and mine) anything over a normal van or pick-up is over the limit (quite a pain when you want to hire a 7.5t van to move house but can't find anyone to drive it...)
Stu R said:
I don't plan on towing anything, so let's say I went away with some mates and their luggage on board, with a brimmed tank of diesel and that put me over the 3500KG mark.
Am I right in thinking I'd be on the wrong side of the law and would need a licence with category C entitlement to be on the right side of it, even though I was well within the limits of the trucks plated rating for MTM / GVW and so on?
Some of the american trucks have huge laden / carrying limits , and fall well under the 3500kg mark, hence my asking.
Your licence only covers you on a vehicle up to 3500kg MAM (GVW) so if you and your mates plus luggage put it over that limit you could get done for overloading.Am I right in thinking I'd be on the wrong side of the law and would need a licence with category C entitlement to be on the right side of it, even though I was well within the limits of the trucks plated rating for MTM / GVW and so on?
Some of the american trucks have huge laden / carrying limits , and fall well under the 3500kg mark, hence my asking.
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