Defender 90, sitting on rear bench floors

[eltax91]

Hi all

I have a Defender 90, with 2 seats in the front cab. I'm doing a weekend away with some mates in March and it appears I need to take 2 passengers with me.

I've never had more than 1 in the 90, but, without any kind of official seat fixed to the raised seat bases in the back, is anyone allowed to use the 'bench' as a seat legally? Any passenger would be inward facing.

[Papa Hotel]

eltax91 said:

Hi all

I have a Defender 90, with 2 seats in the front cab. I'm doing a weekend away with some mates in March and it appears I need to take 2 passengers with me.

I've never had more than 1 in the 90, but, without any kind of official seat fixed to the raised seat bases in the back, is anyone allowed to use the 'bench' as a seat legally? Any passenger would be inward facing.

Well, the army made me sit that way plenty of times, no-one ever got in trouble for it.

I'd imagine if it was an issue it would have been raised with LR by now.

[LooneyTunes]

How many seats did you declare as the vehicle's capacity to your insurers?

[Tunku]

I used to sit on the bench, but that was while going around a rubber estate.

[eltax91]

LooneyTunes said:

How many seats did you declare as the vehicle's capacity to your insurers?

Not sure. It's on a classic policy but I assumed the system have them number of seats. I will check my policy though!

[schmalex]

I think, and don't quote me on this, that if the rear has windows, you are OK, but if it is a solid back, you are not as it's classed as a van, not a station wagon.

Alternatively, you could pick up a used rear side facing bench from eBay for about £30 and spent an hour with a drill fitting it. It's a simple job & you don't legally need seatbelts if they are side facing.

ETA. My 88" S3 was registered as a 7 seater despite having no rear benches. I just picked a couple up & bolted them in

Edited by schmalex on Saturday 25th February 20:28

[LooneyTunes]

It'll be on your V5 too...

I think you can still get the rear bench seats to retrofit. Might be overkill though if it's a one off (and you might need to update V5/insurance if you wanted to be whiter than white).