I thought of this question this morning, stuck behind a tanker and thinking too of the thread on taxing caravans.
Is the tax on an articulated lorry assessed on the tractor unit or the trailer, or both?
A local haulier has a fleet of tankers, adapted for food, hazardous chemicals, farm supplies, grain, etc, and also trailers for containers, cattle, etc.
Presumably he doesn't need a tractor for every trailer, so might have perhaps 50 tractors and 100 or more trailers. The trailers are obviously the bits carrying the weight, ie damaging the roads, but he can only be using 50 at any one time.
How is vehicle licence tax assessed, and would this have a precedent re taxing caravans?
And when I see a trailer unit parked on its own in a lay-by, its tractor having gone off to pull a different unit, does the trailer have a separate VEL identity, or is it just a non-vehicular piece of metal left in the road?
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Don't know about the tax, but as far as I'm aware the trailer has no identity. There was a spate of crimes involving cowboys collecting old tyres from garages and charging very little for the service. The tyres were put in old artic trailers, towed to laybys and left there - resulting in a huge clean up bill for the local authority.
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Cliff,
Most of your questions are answered in the links below.
Briefly in the case of artics the amount of VED is decided at registration,/ VED renewal by an operator declaring what weight of trailer he wishes to tow. As you will see from the first link this may or may not incur an additional trailer duty.
Unlike other countries trailers in UK do not have a VRN (ie own number plate as in AB04 CDE) but they do have a registered number with DVLA, are plated (which should be displayed) and subject to annual vehicle "MOT" testing by VOSA.
HGV and trailer duty info here >> tinyurl.com/3ecju
you need to follow the rigid and articulated goods vehicle link
HGV Trailer test fees here >> tinyurl.com/3f9mt
No doubt DVD will be along to indicate which bit of legislation relates to display of the towing vehicle VRN. In your example of the trailer left in the layby, should the VRN plate of the towing vehicle be left on the trailer? I guess not but sorry I don't know the definitive answer off the top and no time to research.
Hope that helps,
FiF
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Thanks FiF. That seems to answer the main question.
My reading is that every tractor unit gets taxed for itself, plus if appropriate one trailer. So any additional trailers, even if parked in a public place, would be tax-free.
Seems fair enough, I just wondered.
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What can I say FiF as you have covered.I suspect you are having deep discussions with Bro in preparation of becoming Sheriff of South Yorks when C.C's are abolished?
Would add that if the combination of the Unit and Trailer are found to be heavier than the weight on which the Licence was taken out then a Higher rate of duty offence kicks in.
Trailers not registered with DVLA (IIRC) as registration, issue of plates and document only applies to motor vehicles. However after first test trailer is allocated a unique identification plate as you mentioned and records at VOSA. From new to test one has to rely on the number on the Manufacturers Plate. Only MOD assign a VRM type number all vehicles AND trailers, the later may be different to the towing vehicle.
Reg 5(1) R.V (Display of Registration Marks) Rges 2001 states VRM has to be fixed to a vehicle and if towing a trailer, the rearmost trailer. Presume when unhitched then no longer a requirement otherwise what about the need to have the rear VRM illuminated at night?.
DVD
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"Reg 5(1) R.V (Display of Registration Marks) Rges 2001 states VRM has to be fixed to a vehicle and if towing a trailer, the rearmost trailer. Presume when unhitched then no longer a requirement otherwise what about the need to have the rear VRM illuminated at night?."
Good point.
Providing it is properly positioned in a layby which itself is correctly marked then no lights needed of any kind.
Depends if you class a trailer as a vehicle or not. Seems that for lighting purposes it is a vehicle, but for registration marks its called a trailer.
So I'd agree unhitched no VRM needed but possibly needs to be lit, which includes a number plate light even though no number plate actually needs to be displayed.
OK I'll get my anorak.
FiF
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It's the tractor that attracts the tax. The rates are astronomical compared to cars but entirely justified in terms of wear and tear to roads - I read somewhere once that road damage is proportional to the fourth power of the weight - so (if this is true) a rig that has 10 times the weight of a car will wear out the road 10,000 times as fast. Hence the grooves in lane one and two, but not in lane three.
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