Driving a minibus

[AL666]

Hello everyone, I've recently started a new job that requires me to occasionally drive works vans and such, one of which is a minubus, which has had all but 6 seats removed.

I'm 21, been driving 3 years, but only have B, B1, f, k and p on my licence, so I'm not allowed to drive anything with more than 8 passenger seats for any 'commercial body' (according to the direct.gov website)

Now, my questions are...

Is work classed as a commercial body, even though no profit is made from taking people home in the minibus?
Is the Transit still classed as a minibus when it only has 5 passenger seats instead of 12/13?


Cheers,

AL

[AL666]

Don't worry, I rang the DVLA today and got through to someone after 25 minutes; they say that if enough seats are removed so that there are eight or less passenger seats you can drive one with the B licence as long as it's less than three and a half tons.


(just in case anyone else wondered)

[wonkysid]

25 mins on the phone don't they charge something like 10 pence a minute

[AL666]

I bloody hope not!

[wonkysid]

AL666 said:

I bloody hope not!

there was something in the mirror today about their rates,i think they creamed a couple of million last year, i cannot find the link onto the mirror website

[Seesure]

wonkysid said:

25 mins on the phone don't they charge something like 10 pence a minute

OT - But for the record it's 6.73p per minute plus VAT from a BT landline to access 0870 numbers. Revenue sharing will cease on the 1st Feb 2008 on 0870 as the access charges to these numbers will be aligned to the national call rate of you network operator.

Other operators may charge more, typically mobile operators who may charge up to 30p per minute.