O licence needed?...

[Upatdawn]

Today got told that a garage/workshop that had a 7.5t recovery vehicle didnt need an O-licence to fetch in cars for repair but DID one for returning them?....

is that so?

[grumpy52]

Oh yes, I think the view is if it's damaged or won't run it's a recovery , once repaired it's goods in transit for bussiness so then an O licence is required plus all else that is entailed .

[Upatdawn]

what sort of a civil servant in a high rise office came up with that?

i could accept it if the O-licence was for both ways as its a business use and not "own goods" so a restricted would apply but one way?

[iguana]

Recovery has odd exemptions, so as well as needing no O for recovering disabled vehicles, need no tacho if within 100km radius of base & are many that run with no MOT & I've never worked that last bit out for sense, its ment to be just for spec lift trucks by my understanding, but are many tilt & slides running with no mots.

http://www.recoveryuk.com/laws.html

[GC8]

An O licence for one vehicle for this purpose will be relatively cheap and easy wont it? Im aware of one fellow who only had to have access to to £1,500 for maintenance for a 26 tonne vehicle that was carrying his own kit!

[grumpy52]

The last recovery truck I drove was about 6 years ago and with tax, o licence, inspections, plate and mot that was £4500 per year , then add fuel repairs and wages and people wonder why its £120 just to start it up, and thats just a 7.5 tonner go to a big rig and start adding noughts.

[yodel]

O licences are neither cheap nor easy. Expect to ring fence approx. 7 1/2 grand for 1 vehicle. You don't need an o licence if you are recovering a broken down vehicle however if its a basket case for restoration you do. The important phrase is 'hire & reward'. If the recovered vehicle hasn't broken down and in need of recovery you are merely transporting goods, the fact that these goods have wheels on is of no importance. As with everything in this world you'll be fine until something goes wrong then if youre not properly regulated they'll throw the book at you. You also need an o licence if you hire not own the said vehicle

[GC8]

Ring fence? You need a bank letter and few have the money there the week after their licence is approved. Own goods vehicles need substantially less, as I inferred in my earlier post.

[thepeoplespal]

Small matter of a National CPC (or international if going outside the UK) required too, or a transport manager with one. That's a different one to the drivers CPC, got my National CPC in the early 1990s, I keep upto date, but I've never had call to use it. I hear it is a good deal harder to pass the CPC course these days, no entirely multiple choice exam of back in the day.

[Upatdawn]

GC8 said:

Ring fence? You need a bank letter and few have the money there the week after their licence is approved. Own goods vehicles need substantially less, as I inferred in my earlier post.

Didnt they change that to cleared funds held for 3 months? at one time a credit card with funds available would do

are "consultant" CPC holders still allowed for an O licence?

[GC8]

Two good questions that I cant answer with any certainty.

[thepeoplespal]

Upatdawn said:

Didnt they change that to cleared funds held for 3 months? at one time a credit card with funds available would do

are "consultant" CPC holders still allowed for an O licence?

Well the Traffic Comissoners are dead nuts against a CPC holder being on more than one O licence, if the utterances they make on my weekly copy of Commercial Motor are to go by.

I'd almost become one myself, if I didn't think it would be a mugs game to open myself up to corporate manslaughter charges when a wheel gets lost or driver falls asleep at the wheel. Can't see how anybody (smaller outfits) is making ends meet legitimately on a general haulage type business ATM, corners would need to be cut somewhere, as the margins seem to be paper thin..

[Alzy]

Upatdawn said:

are "consultant" CPC holders still allowed for an O licence?

Yes

[GC8]

Im aware of an application that was refused for this in 2007.

[Chrisgr31]

iguana said:

Recovery has odd exemptions, so as well as needing no O for recovering disabled vehicles, need no tacho if within 100km radius of base & are many that run with no MOT & I've never worked that last bit out for sense, its ment to be just for spec lift trucks by my understanding, but are many tilt & slides running with no mots.

http://www.recoveryuk.com/laws.html

I did read a report locally about a guy who was done for having a fake MOT on his truck. The irony being that it was stated in Court that as it was a recovery truck it was exempt from needing a MOT.

[Alzy]

GC8 said:

Im aware of an application that was refused for this in 2007.

It couldve been down to the geography? There would be no use having a yard in Southampton with the appointed Transport Manager being based in Inverness. I think an hour is probably more sensible? But i`m sure that if a company had an internal TM with a company car etc etc he the TC would appreciate that a larger area could be covered....

[GC8]

I suspect that it was down to 'other factors'. What the TC will accept for one applicant, they will laugh off from another.

I think that his light was well and truly red...

[Alzy]

GC8 said:

I suspect that it was down to 'other factors'. What the TC will accept for one applicant, they will laugh off from another.

I think that his light was well and truly red...

That would also be a reason for rejection :-)