anyone heard of changes to O licence in october 2011

[rstsye]

hi all,
i work for scottish&southern energy and get to take my sprinter company van home.
i heard today that in october ish time vosa will be including 3.5ton vans as an O licence applicable vehicle?

ive been looking on i/net and cant find anything to this affect?

my mate is stting his pants now as he has an ex missus etc who gets most of his wages etc and cannot afford to buy a car after 16yrs of free commuting.

i always knew this day was gonna come and im sure the company will save a whole heap of money in diesel&vandalism/damage to stationary vehicles after they've sorted the parking problem theyre will be now most of the depots have been sold off for redevelopment.

bugger is ive just bought a 4.0 chimaera as i dont need a car for commuting bloody typical!

sye

[zippo]

O Licence as in Operators License?

That will be down to your company to sort out and you should still be able to take the van home.

[Proxy]

zippo said:

O Licence as in Operators License?

That will be down to your company to sort out and you should still be able to take the van home.

Yep, if the law states you need a certain license to do your job, your employer should pay for it.

Edited by Proxy on Wednesday 19th January 19:05

[pacman1]

Top lurking there sye! As zippo said, it's an operator's issue, shouldn't affect the driver in any way.

Edited by pacman1 on Wednesday 19th January 19:06

[nsmith1180]

I didn't think they could take permissions to drive cars/vans away? So it would only affect people who get or renew their licence after the date the rule comes in.

[zippo]

nsmith1180 said:

I didn't think they could take permissions to drive cars/vans away? So it would only affect people who get or renew their licence after the date the rule comes in.

It nothing to do with your driving licence

It is a company issue although it will effect those who are self employed and using 3.5t vans aswell.

[With these feet]

I would assume that if an O licence is required, then the van would need to be tacho'd? Ours cost over £1k and it was straightforward!
We have a restricted O licence for our artic and run a Crafter 3.5t with tacho (when towing) otherwise its set to OUT.
I have not received any info from VOSA yet, if it is on the cards then theyre leaving it bloody late.

Seems to be a few people that want the "grey" area of the 3-4.5t vans cleaned up due to the large number of offences they find on spot checks. Making them fall into O licence territory would mean regular inspections and servicing.

[rt911]

Not sure of the full law that may be coming into force.

However, when I was running my fleet of commercial vehicles, we had to nominate which vehicle was in which depot and where it was parked when not in use. We then had inspections every now and then to prove this. So our drivers didnt/couldnt take vehicles home, but these were over 7500kg.

Will be a massive undertaking by everybody (VOSA/Companies) to maintain the conditions I used to operate under. as this also covers vehicle inspections/maintenance/servicing and the financial condition of the company...

[croyde]

Don't these change of vehicle licence laws only effect people who get their standard car licence after it comes into being.

When I was a lad I used to drive big vans/small lorries (up to 7.5 tonnes) on my car licence for a living. Apparently I still can but people, having passed their test in the late 90s and after, have to take a test to drive a 3.5 to 7.5 tonne van.

At least that is how I read it.

[GKP]

When you take the van home, does it live on your driveway or is it parked on the street?

[rt911]

croyde said:

Don't these change of vehicle licence laws only effect people who get their standard car licence after it comes into being.

When I was a lad I used to drive big vans/small lorries (up to 7.5 tonnes) on my car licence for a living. Apparently I still can but people, having passed their test in the late 90s and after, have to take a test to drive a 3.5 to 7.5 tonne van.

At least that is how I read it.

Nothing to do with your driving licence

Its an "O Licence" (operators licence). Which you need a CPC (certificate of professional competence in Road Haulage) to be a transport / fleet manager to run a fleet of commercial vehicles, either national or international which can be restricted.

[SubaruSteve]

I think the OP is referring to the restrictions on parking of vehicles controlled under an operators licence. The knock on effect (if it is true that they are including vehicles under 3.5t) could be that drivers may not be able to leave their vehicles parked in the road overnight.

[rstsye]

hello again,
steve has it in a nutshell
at the moment i park my van in the road overnite weekends etc when not in use,so if this comes in it needs to be parked off road the same as all other over 3.5t vehicles.
this will make it neccesary to have to drive/commute to wherever the designated off road parking area will be,i wish i had a drive to put it on as then it wouldnt be a problem&i could still have impractical cars!

cheers sye

[croyde]

rt911 said:

croyde said:

Don't these change of vehicle licence laws only effect people who get their standard car licence after it comes into being.

When I was a lad I used to drive big vans/small lorries (up to 7.5 tonnes) on my car licence for a living. Apparently I still can but people, having passed their test in the late 90s and after, have to take a test to drive a 3.5 to 7.5 tonne van.

At least that is how I read it.

Nothing to do with your driving licence

Its an "O Licence" (operators licence). Which you need a CPC (certificate of professional competence in Road Haulage) to be a transport / fleet manager to run a fleet of commercial vehicles, either national or international which can be restricted.

Thank you sir