Driving a landy with a Towbar needs a tacho commercially, not sure of that one, i used to drive a toyota car carrier with tacho but the tacho was only needed when the trailer was being used

We olduns have the advantage of grandfather rights on our licenses, but since '97 , that means that most people under 32 don't have those rights now

That means that even landrover 101's (3.6 tonnes) need an upgraded license or a downgraded plate

The area of tachos for over 7.5 tonne seem to be one of those grey areas, VOSA seem to say that yes it is needed, but its difficult to get clarification from vosa on anything in my experience

Does anyone actually know of a campervan for personal use with tacho??

Mine is 9.5 tons and hasn't. American imported RVs don't that I'm aware of, certainly none that I've looked at.

What would be the point? You're not working, so what do hours worked / other work / rest etc have to do with it at all?

Jason

:)

A tacho is only required for commercial use.

Take care though, if someone bungs you a fiver to take their rubbish to the tip, or pays your Diesel to tow their horsebox to a show, you do strictly need one. There are lots of 4x4's, vans and other vehicles now fitted with tacho's to cover this. People have been done for the sake of a mate buying them a tank of fuel.

If you are on a longer run and were involved in an accident, plod would have the usual decision about if tiredness was a factor. If you have a record (meal receipts vs fuel receipts etc.) that you stuck to very similar hours to a commercial driver you'd have all the precedence on your side. No need to keep a log or run a tacho, but stuffing your timed receipts into a door pocket has it's uses.

Andy

Tachograph exemption form

https://online.businesslink.gov.uk/T..._Form_0510.pdf

Option 4 covers us up to 7500kg

Above that it implies a tacho is needed , just because vehicles don't have them then doesn't mean its legal. i'm no expert (but then no one is on this i think including dvla and vosa)

It can be a motor caravan and registered Private HGV the operative phrase being HGV. The private bit means you cannot use the vehicle for hire or reward

It's because of the gross train weight that is possible if you have a towbar. just because you aren't using the capacity doesn't mean your exempt,same as just because the vans empty doesn't get you off needing the right licence!

but then, the law appears to be far from clear on any of this!

From "Rules on Drivers’ Hours and Tachographs";

http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/repositor...d%20Europe.pdf

5th paragraph page 6, out of 57 pages;

"Vehicles used for the carriage of goods by road and with a maximum permissible weight (including any trailer or semi-trailer) of over 3.5 tonnes are in scope of the EU rules."

and therefore need a tacho to monitor driving hours.

If your camper carries goods it is a Living Van and requires a tacho and plating. If it doesn't carry goods its a Motor Caravan (on the V5 as such) so no plating, no tacho, Class 4 MOT same as a car regardless of weight.



Indeed, further down that pdf an exception I'd forgotton about from when I did the Class C test is the test vehicle itself, which must be, from;


Minimum test vehicle requirements for buses and lorries : Directgov - Motoring

"Category C
A rigid goods vehicle with a MAM of at least 12 tonnes, at least eight metres in length and least 2.4 metres in width. The vehicle should have at least eight forward ratios, a closed box cargo compartment at least as wide and as high as the cab"



So the Governments own website describes the test vehicle as a goods vehicle, but the top of page 12 of the first link says a tacho on these vehicles is not required. I'm sure it will have one, because of the vehicles previous life as well as for the instructor to explain its use, but its not needed.

Private HGV is only the taxation class of a Motor Caravan not its use, if it carried goods it would no longer be a Motor Caravan, and your insurance would most likely not be valid.

Crashing while driving tired is of course a "bad thing", but you are no more required to take breaks while on/in your bike/car/Landy than while driving your 8x8 MAN camper.

Totally clear now ;)

Jason

there was the case a while ago though of the bloke who crashed his landy after falling asleep at the wheel,crashing onto a railwayline and killing several people. One of the things that nailed him wasn't that he had been driving too long, but that he had been up most of the night on the internet.
in another case a businessman crashed on his way home after an overnight flight. he was told in court that he should have had a sleep before driving home.
I remember these cases because I often work nights and these cases had interesting repercussions for night workers on their first night shift.
while there is no formal arrangement for sleep and rest on non commercial driving, if you have an accident you will be held accountable if you haven't had adequate rest.