The Goods Vehicles (Plating and Testing) Regulations 1988

Regulations 3(1) and 20

SCHEDULE 1 PROVISIONS AS TO BRAKING FORCE OF TRAILERS

1.  In this Schedule— the letter “W” represents—

(a) in the case of a trailer so designed that part of the weight of the trailer is imposed on the drawing vehicle, the axle weight, or, as the case may be, the sum of the axle weights which is or are to be determined for the trailer on an examination for plating;

(b) in any other case the gross weight of the trailer which is to be so determined.

2.  The minimum braking force capable of being developed by the brakes of a trailer manufactured before 1st January 1968 should in the case of—

(a) a trailer, not being a semi-trailer, be 0.4 W;

(b) a semi-trailer for which a gross weight of 6100 kilograms or more is to be determined for the vehicle on an examination for plating, be 0.35 W;

(c) a semi-trailer for which a gross weight of less than 6100 kilograms is to be so determined, be 0.32 W.

3.  The minimum braking force capable of being developed by the brakes of a trailer manufactured on or after 1st January 1968 but before 1st October 1982 should in the case of—

(a) a trailer, not being a semi-trailer, be 0.5 W;

(b) a semi-trailer, be 0.4 W.

4.  The minimum braking force capable of being developed by the brakes of a trailer manufactured on or after 1st October 1982 should be 0.45 W.

Regulation 4

SCHEDULE 2 CLASSES OF VEHICLE TO WHICH THESE REGULATIONS DO NOT APPLY

1.  Dual-purpose vehicles not constructed or adapted to form part of an articulated vehicle.

2.  Mobile cranes as defined in Schedule 3 to the 1971 Act.

3.  Break-down vehicles.

4.  Engineering plant and plant, not being engineering plant, which is movable plant or equipment being a motor vehicle or trailer (not constructed primarily to carry a load) especially designed and constructed for the special purposes of engineering operations.

5.  Trailers being drying or mixing plant designed for the production of asphalt or of bituminous or tar macadam.

6.  Tower wagons as defined in—

(a) section 4(2) of the 1971 Act(1); or

(b) Schedule 4 to that Act.

7.  Road construction vehicles as defined in section 4(2) of the 1971 Act and road rollers.

8.  Vehicles designed for fire fighting or fire salvage purposes.

9.  Works trucks, straddle carriers used solely as works trucks, and works trailers.

10.  Electrically-propelled motor vehicles.

11.  Vehicles used solely for one or both of the following purposes—

(a) clearing frost, ice or snow from roads by means of a snow plough or similar contrivance, whether forming part of the vehicle or not, and

(b) spreading material on roads to deal with frost, ice or snow.

12.  Motor vehicles used for no other purpose than the haulage of lifeboats and the conveyance of the necessary gear of the lifeboats which are being hauled.

13.  Living vans the unladen weight of which does not exceed 1525 kilograms.

14.  Vehicles constructed or adapted for, and used primarily for the purpose of, carrying equipment permanently fixed to the vehicle which equipment is used for medical, dental, veterinary, health, educational, display, clerical or experimental laboratory purposes, such use—

(a) not directly involving the sale, hire or loan of goods from the vehicle; and

(b) not directly or indirectly involving drain cleaning or sewage or refuse collection.

15.  Trailers which have no other brakes than a parking brake and brakes which automatically come into operation on the over-run of the trailer.

16.  Vehicles exempted from duty under the 1971 Act by virtue of section 7(1) of that Act and any trailer drawn by such a vehicle.

17.  Agricultural motor vehicles and agricultural trailed appliances.

18.  Agricultural trailers and agricultural trailed appliance conveyors drawn on roads only by an agricultural motor vehicle.

19.  Public service vehicles (as defined in section 1 of the Public Passenger Vehicles Act 1981(2)).

20.  Licensed taxis (as defined in section 13(3) of the Transport Act 1985(3)).

21.  Vehicles used solely for the purposes of funerals.

22.  Goods vehicles to which any of the prescribed construction and use requirements do not apply by virtue of either of the following items in the Table in regulation 4(4) of the Construction and Use Regulations namely—

(a) item 1 (which relates to vehicles proceeding to a port for export);

(b) item 4 (which relates to vehicles in the service of a visiting force or of a headquarters).

23.  Vehicles equipped with a new or improved equipment or types of equipment and used, solely by a manufacturer of vehicles or their equipment or by an importer of vehicles, for or in connection with the test or trial of any such equipment.

24.  Motor vehicles brought into Great Britain and displaying a registration mark mentioned in regulation 5 of the Motor Vehicles (International Circulation) Regulations 1971(4), a period of twelve months not having elapsed since the vehicle in question was last brought into Great Britain.

25.  Motor vehicles for the time being licensed under the Vehicles (Excise) Act (Northern Ireland) 1972(5).

26.  Vehicles having a base or centre in any of the following islands, namely, Arran, Bute, Great Cumbrae, Islay, Mull, Tiree or North Uist from which the use of the vehicle on a journey is normally commenced.

27.  Trailers brought into Great Britain and having a base or centre in a country outside Great Britain from which the use of the vehicle on a journey is normally commenced, a period of twelve months not having elapsed since the vehicle in question was last brought into Great Britain.

28.  Track-laying vehicles.

29.  Steam propelled vehicles.

30.  Motor vehicles first used before 1st January 1960, used unladen and not drawing a laden trailer, and trailers manufactured before 1st January 1960 and used unladen. For the purposes of this paragraph any determination as to when a motor vehicle is first used shall be made as provided in regulation 3(3) of the Construction and Use Regulations.

31.  Motor vehicles constructed, and not merely adapted, for the purpose of street cleansing, or the collection or disposal of refuse or the collection or disposal of the contents of gullies and which are either—

(a) three-wheeled vehicles, or

(b) vehicles which—

(i) are incapable by reason of their construction of exceeding a speed of 20 miles per hour on the level under their own power, or

(ii) have an inside track width of less than 810 millimetres.

32.  Vehicles designed and used for the purpose of servicing or controlling or loading or unloading aircraft while so used—

(a) on an aerodrome as defined in section 105(1) of the Civil Aviation Act 1982(6);

(b) on roads outside such an aerodrome if, except when proceeding directly from one part of such an aerodrome to another part thereof, the vehicles are unladen and are not drawing a laden trailer.

33.  Vehicles designed for use, and used on an aerodrome mentioned in paragraph 32, solely for the purpose of road cleansing, the collection or disposal of refuse or the collection or disposal of the contents of gullies or cesspools.

34.  Vehicles provided for police purposes and maintained in workshops approved by the Secretary of State as suitable for such maintenance, being vehicles provided in England and Wales by a police authority or the Receiver for the metropolitan police district, or, in Scotland, by a police authority or a joint police committee.

35.  Heavy motor cars or motor cars constructed or adapted for the purpose of forming part of an articulated vehicle and which are used for drawing only a trailer falling within a class of vehicle specified in paragraph 13, 14 or 15 of this Schedule or a trailer being used for or in connection with any purpose for which it is authorised to be used on roads by an order under section 42(1) of the 1972 Act, being an order authorising that trailer or any class or description of trailers comprising that trailer to be used on roads.

36.  Play buses.

Regulations 3 and 16

SCHEDULE 3 THE PRESCRIBED CONSTRUCTION AND USE REQUIREMENTS

The construction and use requirements which are prescribed for the purposes of a goods vehicle test are as follows:—

1.  The requirements contained in the following provisions of the Construction and Use Regulations:—

Item No.	Regulation	Affecting	Applicable to
Motor Vehicles	Trailers
Note: Item 21(i) is applicable to semi-trailers which have some or all of their wheels driven by the drawing vehicle, but not to other trailers.
1	15 or 16	Parking brake	Yes	Yes
2	15 or 17	Pressure, Vacuum braking systems	Yes	No
3	15, 16 or 18	Brakes	Yes	Yes
4	24	Recut pneumatic tyres	Yes	Yes
5	25	Strength of tyres	Yes	Yes
6	26 and 27	Mixing and maintenance of tyres	Yes	Yes
7	29	Maintenance of steering gear	Yes	Yes
8	30	View to the front	Yes	No
9	33	Mirrors	Yes	No
10	34	Windscreen Wipers and Washers	Yes	No
11	35 and 36	Speedometer	Yes	No
12	37	Audible warning	Yes	No
13	46, 47 and 48	Seat Belts	Yes	No
14	49 and 50	Rear under-run protection	Yes	Yes
15	51 and 52	Sideguards	Yes	Yes
16	54	Maintenance of silencer	Yes	No
17	61	Excess fuel device	Yes	No
18	61	Smoke emission, oil etc.	Yes	No
19	64 and 65	Spray suppression equipment	Yes	Yes
20	70 and 73	Ministry plate	Yes	Yes
21	100	Safe condition of the vehicle and its accessories and in particular:—
		(b) Spare Wheel carrier	Yes	Yes
		(b) Trailer coupling on vehicle	Yes	Yes
		(c) Coupling on trailer	No	Yes
		(d) The chassis	Yes	Yes
		(e) Electrical wiring and equipment	Yes	Yes
		(f) Landing legs	No	Yes
		(g) Engine mountings	Yes	Yes
		(h) Fuel tanks and system	Yes	Yes
		(i) Transmission shafts and associated equipment	Yes	see note
		(j) Exhaust system	Yes	Yes
		(k) Battery	Yes	No
		(l) Wheels and hubs	Yes	Yes
		(m) Suspension system	Yes	Yes
		(n) Axles and Steering gear	Yes	Yes
		(o) Shock absorbers	Yes	Yes
		(p) Bumpers	Yes	Yes
		(q) Wings	Yes	Yes
		(r) The cab	Yes	No
		(s) Driving seat	Yes	No
		(t) The Body	Yes	Yes
		(u) Driver’s controls	Yes	No
		(v) Cab step or step rings	Yes	No
		(w) Glass or other transparent material in windscreen or cab windows	Yes	No

2.  The requirements contained in the following provisions of the Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1984(7).

Item No.	Regulation and Schedule	Affecting	Applicable to
Motor Vehicles	Trailers
22	Regulation 16, Schedule 1, item 1 and Schedule 2, Part I	Obligatory front position lamps	As specified in item 1 of Schedule 1	No
23	Regulation 16, Schedule 1, item 1 and Schedule 4, Part I	Obligatory dipped-beam headlamps	As specified in item 1 of Schedule 1	No
24	Regulation 17 and Schedule 4, Part II	Optional dipped-beam headlamps	If fitted, yes	No
25	Regulation 16, Schedule 1, item 1 and Schedule 5, Part I	Obligatory main-beam headlamps	As specified in item 1 of Schedule 1	No
26	Regulation 17 and Schedule 5, Part II	Optional main-beam headlamps	If fitted, yes	No
27	Regulation 16 and Schedule 1, item 1 or 6 and Schedule 10, Part I	Obligatory rear position lamps	As specified in item 1 of Schedule 1	As specified in item 6 of Schedule 1
28	Regulation 16 and Schedule 1, item 1 or 6 and Schedule 16, Part I	Obligatory side reflex reflectors	As specified in item 1 of Schedule 1	As specified in item 6 of Schedule 1
29	Regulation 16 and Schedule 1, item 1 or 6 and Schedule 17, Part I	Obligatory rear reflex reflectors	As specified in item 1 of Schedule 1	As specified in item 6 of Schedule 1
30	Regulation 16 and Schedule 1, item 1 or 6 and Schedule 7, Parts I and II	Obligatory direction indicators	As specified in item 1 of Schedule 1	As specified in item 6 of Schedule 1
31	Regulation 17 and Schedule 7, Parts I and II	Optional direction indicators	If fitted, yes	If fitted, yes
32	Regulation 16, Schedule 1 or 6, and Schedule 12, Part I	Obligatory stop lamps	As specified in item 1 of Schedule 1	As specified in item 6 of Schedule 1
33	Regulation 17 and Schedule 12, Part II	Optional stop lamps	If fitted, yes	If fitted, yes
34	Regulation 16, Schedule 1, item 1 or 6 and Schedule 18, Part I	Obligatory rear markings	As specified in item 1 of Schedule 1	As specified in item 6 of Schedule 1
35	Regulation 17 and Schedule 18, Part II	Optional rear markings	If fitted, yes	If fitted, yes
36	Regulation 16 and Schedule 1, item 1 or 6 and Schedule 11, Part I	Obligatory rear fog lamps	As specified in item 1 of Schedule 1	As specified in item 6 of Schedule 1
37	Regulation 17 and Schedule 11, Part II	Optional rear fog lamps	If fitted, yes	If fitted, yes
38	Regulation 20(1) so far as relating to lamps, reflectors or markings mentioned in next column forward	Maintenance of obligatory front position lamp, rear position lamp, headlamp, rear fog lamps, reflex reflectors and rear markings	Yes	Yes
39	Regulation 20(1) so far as relating to lamp or indicator mentioned in next column forward	Maintenance of stop lamps and direction indicators	In case of obligatory lamp or indicator, yes. In case of optional lamp or indicator, yes, if fitted	In case of obligatory lamp, yes. In case of optional lamps, yes if fitted
40	Regulation 20(3)	Maintenance of dipped-beam headlamp	In case of obligatory lamp, yes. In case of optional lamp, yes if fitted	No
41	Regulation 20(3)	Maintenance of rear fog lamp	In case of obligatory lamp, yes. In case of optional lamp, yes, if fitted	In case of obligatory lamp, yes. In case of optional lamp, yes, if fitted

3.  The requirements, in so far as they relate to the installation of recording equipment in Article 3 and the seals to be affixed to such equipment in Article 15 and paragraph 4 of Section V of Annex 1 of the Community Recording Equipment Regulation (as defined in section 82 of the 1972 Act(8)).

Item No.	Affecting	Applicable to
Motor Vehicles	Trailers
42	Installation and seals of tachograph	Yes	No

SCHEDULE 4 REGULATIONS REVOKED BY REGULATION 2

Title	Year and Number
The Goods Vehicles (Plating and Testing) Regulations 1982	1982/1478
The Goods Vehicles (Plating and Testing) Regulations 1983	1983/239
The Goods Vehicles (Plating and Testing) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 1983	1983/1800
The Goods Vehicles (Plating and Testing) (Amendment) Regulations 1984	1984/178
The Goods Vehicles (Plating and Testing) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 1984	1984/402
The Goods Vehicles (Plating and Testing) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 1984	1984/816
The Goods Vehicles (Plating and Testing) (Amendment) (No. 4) Regulations 1984	1984/1024
The Goods Vehicles (Plating and Testing) (Amendment) Regulations 1985	1985/44
The Goods Vehicles (Plating and Testing) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 1985	1985/1525
The Goods Vehicles (Plating and Testing) (Amendment) Regulations 1986	1986/371
The Goods Vehicles (Plating and Testing) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 1986	1986/1090
The Goods Vehicles (Plating and Testing) (Amendment) Regulations 1988	1988/338

(1)

1971 c. 10; section 4(2) was amended by the Finance Act 1986 (c. 41), Schedule 2, paragraph 2.

(2)

1981 c. 14.

(3)

1985 c. 67.

(4)

S.I. 1971/937.

(5)

1972 c. 10 (No. 6).

(6)

1982 c. 16.

(7)

S.I. 1984/812, to which there are amendments not relevant to these Regulations.

(8)

Section 82 was amended by the insertion of this definition by S.I. 1981/1692.