Is an HGV licence required in these circumstances??

[spikeyhead]

How can a place be private when the public are welcome to drive in there?

[the tribester]

944 Man said:

I am surprised that they aren't insisting on the qualification, even if the entitlement has expired.

Being able to drive and being allowed to drive a C1 vehicle is not the same thing. Even having C1 experience does not set you up to drive a 12t wagon. Can they drive it? Probably, in a fashion. Can they operate it correctly and safely? Very little likelihood.

Agreed, it would be interesting to see the Risk Assessment on the driving of vehicles on site with a large number of the public milling around and the qualifications they deem necessary.

[Rockatansky]

Thanks for the continued input.

I've no idea about what the risk assessments say or, indeed, if they exist.

[Muzzer79]

It is possible to drive a large vehicle on private land without a full HGV licence.

This is most prevalent, for example, with shunt vehicles that move trailers around a yard at a logistics hub - one has to be trained for that, but it’s not a full HGV test. You can even travel within a short distance of the designated hub - to a building a few doors down, for example.

As you’re on private land, it’s more a liability question than a legal one. You can do what you like on private land, but if you hit someone, there’ll be someone along very soon to ask you questions about training and risk assessments as a consequence.

Speak to your insurer and the local HSE is my advice.

[944 Man]

the tribester said:

944 Man said:

I am surprised that they aren't insisting on the qualification, even if the entitlement has expired.

Being able to drive and being allowed to drive a C1 vehicle is not the same thing. Even having C1 experience does not set you up to drive a 12t wagon. Can they drive it? Probably, in a fashion. Can they operate it correctly and safely? Very little likelihood.

Agreed, it would be interesting to see the Risk Assessment on the driving of vehicles on site with a large number of the public milling around and the qualifications they deem necessary.

I saw a job advertised last year where they were looking for a cement mixer driver on a large site (from the batcher to the pour). No HGV licence required. The money was pretty good but I suspect that the job was poor.

[blank]

It's really down to how private it is.

My place of work is very much private and we have "internal" licences for things like buses and HGVs. We can also drive over 70mph and do other things that wouldn't be allowed on public roads.

No issues at all really, but members of the public certainly can't just drive on site!

[rallye101]

1st off, they need an operators licence I'm assuming

[Rockatansky]

Definitely out of my depth here, but is an operators licence needed for a recovery vehicle that never sees the road, and a bin lorry that goes to be emptied maybe once a month?

[blueST]

If the vehicles are over 3.5t and venture anywhere on the road at least a restricted o-license is needed.

[R0G]

spikeyhead said:

How can a place be private when the public are welcome to drive in there?

Because it has the option of gates or barriers closing it off - that is the law

[spikeyhead]

R0G said:

spikeyhead said:

How can a place be private when the public are welcome to drive in there?

Because it has the option of gates or barriers closing it off - that is the law

I don't think it's quite as simple as that, the public are encouraged to come in during the day.

If the truck movements are kept to those times when the gates are closed then I'd agree with you

[trashbat]

There's a lot of case law on what is and is not a public road, and it's complicated. For example, a pub car park is a public road when the pub is open, and private when it's not.

https://thedrivingsolicitor.co.uk/2019/03/11/road-...