The Goods Vehicles (Plating and Testing) Regulations 1988

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations re-enact the Goods Vehicles (Plating and Testing) Regulations 1982 with amendments. In addition to minor and drafting amendments, they make the following changes of substance.

Regulation 8(2)(c) provides that an examiner should not be under any obligation to accept a vehicle for examination or to proceed with an examination where the fee has not been paid and is not tendered in cash.

Regulation 11(2) extends the validity of a goods vehicle test certificate where it is issued in respect of a motor vehicle at a time when its most recent certificate has expired and its most recent excise licence has expired or been surrendered. In these circumstances, the certificate shall be valid from the date of issue until the last day of the same month in the next following year. Previously a certificate issued in these circumstances expired on the first anniversary of the expiry date of the earlier certificate unless the vehicle was submitted for a re-test more than 10 months after that expiry date.

Regulation 16(3)(c) re-enacts provisions enabling a vehicle to be re-tested free of charge if the re-test is due only to certain defects. To the list of defects is added those relating to the construction and use requirements specified in items 14 and 15 of Schedule 3. Items 14 and 15 relate to rear under-run protection and side guards.

Regulation 21(3)(b)(ii) requires a plating certificate issued by the Goods Vehicle Centre, Swansea to contain the letters GVC. Regulation 21(4) enables a plating certificate to contain the maximum authorised weights and dimensions in accordance with article 2 of Council Directive 85/3/EEC.

Regulation 44 re-enacts provisions exempting certain goods vehicles from sections 46(1) and (2) of the Road Traffic Act 1972 (obligatory test certificates for goods vehicles). Regulation 44(1)(c) has been redrafted so as to make it clear that the exemption relating to vehicles used or drawn by a vehicle used under a trade licence applies only to vehicles and trailers being used unladen.

Schedule 2 re-enacts a list of classes of vehicle to which the Regulations do not apply. It makes the following amendments:

(a) paragraph 6 extends the exemption for tower wagons to tower wagons as defined in section 4(2) of the Vehicles (Excise) Act 1971 (c. 10) which was substituted by paragraph 2 of Schedule 2 to the Finance Act 1986 (c. 41);

(b) paragraph 14, which exempts certain vehicles equipped for, amongst other things, medical, veterinary and health purposes, has been redrafted so as to make it clear that the exemption does not apply to vehicles used for drain cleaning or sewage or refuse collection;

(c) paragraph 18, which replaces the exemption for agricultural trailers drawn on roads only by a land tractor, exempts agricultural trailers and agricultural trailed appliance conveyors drawn on roads only by an agricultural motor vehicle;

(d) in paragraph 20 the exemption for hackney carriages has been replaced by one for licensed taxis; and

(e) paragraph 26, which exempts vehicles having a base or centre in certain islands, is extended to vehicles having a base or centre in Tiree.

Schedule 3 re-enacts provisions specifying the construction and use requirements which are prescribed for the purposes of a goods vehicle test. The effect of a requirement being so specified is that a vehicle submitted for a test has to be examined to ascertain whether the vehicle complies with it. The requirements have been amended as follows:

(a) item 7 applies to trailers the requirements relating to maintenance of steering gear contained in regulation 29 of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986;

(b) item 19 prescribes as new requirements for motor vehicles and trailers, the requirements which relate to spray suppression equipment contained in regulations 64 and 65 of the 1986 Regulations; and

(c) item 21 applies to semi-trailers which have some or all of their wheels driven by the drawing vehicle the requirements relating to transmission shafts and associated equipment contained in regulation 100 of the 1986 Regulations.