transit HGV ???????

[FredTransit]

Ah Crap!

what a pain in the ar*se why dont the police downrate them before selling them on ????

Why should they bother? Not thier problem any more!

[MRspivvy]

Aha
I was in exactly the same boat till last week.I also purchased an Ex police van

I had another problem aswell as the gtw weight was wrong aswell.
After many phone calls it turns out that Ford made the cock up and have sent me out a new vin plate.

It still showed the gross weight as 3850 though.
Luckily for me Ford aranged with Vosa for it to be downrated to 3500 as a paperwork excersize only .£22 later and im happy again.

Take it to your local Vosa station and i'm sure yours will be a simple paperwork excersize too.
You dont get a new vin plate though,you just get a certificate which overrides the plate.

And to top it all off i took it for an MOT that day and it only failed on handbrake adjustment

Has been a major pain in the ass but now it is all sorted i have a nice clean well looked after TURBO diesel van cheap as chips

cock ups are quite common with vin plates. The ambulance I owned was reg no J651 LTA but it had the vin plate of J650 Lta, which at the time was still in front line service! I had to take it to the DVLC offices in cardiff to be examined

[FredTransit]

cock ups are quite common with vin plates. The ambulance I owned was reg no J651 LTA but it had the vin plate of J650 Lta, which at the time was still in front line service! I had to take it to the DVLC offices in cardiff to be examined

Did you get abulance tax exemption then? worth a try!

[MRspivvy]

cock ups are quite common with vin plates. The ambulance I owned was reg no J651 LTA but it had the vin plate of J650 Lta, which at the time was still in front line service! I had to take it to the DVLC offices in cardiff to be examined

Did you get abulance tax exemption then? worth a try!

dammit! I didnt think of that! It was good fun for a while, getting let out of junctions and that before I took the battenburg stripes off

[FredTransit]

Mr S, why not? I had this conversation before with madmark, who has had a fair few ambies in his time. He said the first thing he would do was send off the logbook and change the classification to PLG. I say if the DVLA say it's an ambulance, leave em to it! Imagine trying to GET that class from them, would be like pulling teeth.....

[stevew]

Because if you get stopped they'll throw the book at you
Same reason mine isn't still classed as police.
Steve

[pictishpunkgirl]

Just took our LWB high top to get MOT'd & was told they can't do it due to it being 3500kg which is a class 7 MOT or something. Taking it to Council MOT station where at least they won't have a vested interest in failing it (as they don't do repairs).


Hope you got on Ok in the end.
Morag

[FredTransit]

Because if you get stopped they'll throw the book at you
Same reason mine isn't still classed as police.
Steve

Throw the book at you? In what way? I can understand the police angle (I wasn't aware there was a police classification), but ambulances seem to get away with a lot more. I do understand that blue lights can't be displayed if the vehicle isn't in service. For that reason I keep the lights on ours covered up with plastic carrier bags gaffer taped on, not glamorous but does the job. I owuld have thought the worse thing that could happen if stopped is you could loose the ambulance tax classification.

[100ps_drw_hicube]

when i bought my hi cube it had 4 months tax remaining which was police class but when the log book came thru it had changed to plg

[FredTransit]

when i bought my hi cube it had 4 months tax remaining which was police class but when the log book came thru it had changed to plg

Is the police tax free too then? I can understand the police informing the DVLA of the change, it's s sensative subject, if you chose to put blue lights and a siren on the van, and the police saw it and did a PNC check, it would come back as a police vehicle and you could get away with god knows what. It's different with an amby.

[100ps_drw_hicube]

yep police tax is free but even some of the plod cars round our way dont display new tax discs they have out of date ones even when the tax is free

[FredTransit]

yep police tax is free but even some of the plod cars round our way dont display new tax discs they have out of date ones even when the tax is free

Yeah, I have noticed current ambies with out of date tax!

[vannut]

The problem is that if you get done for the running with the ambulance tax disc DVLA will make you pay up to five times the back tax for the PLG classification from when you bought the vehicle. (the police don't actually prosecute vehicle excise offences, they merely pass the details on to the local vehicle licensing office, and the LVLO prosecute you)

There's nothing to stop you running it as an ambulance privately, (unless things have changed) but it must display the words ambulance on it, and it must be capable of carrying casualties. Also you mustn't carry any other load in it....

Here is the extract from the current regs:

Ambulances and health service vehicles
6.—(1) An ambulance is an exempt vehicle.

(2) In sub-paragraph (1)"ambulance" means a vehicle which—
(a) is constructed or adapted for, and used for no purpose other than, the carriage of sick, injured or disabled people to or from welfare centres or places where medical or dental treatment is given, and
(b) is readily identifiable as a vehicle used for the carriage of such people by being marked "Ambulance" on both sides.


And here is a link to the regs, don't blame me if it's not easy reading

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1994/Uk ... 2_en_1.htm

[MRspivvy]

I think if the vehicle is not being used for the purpose laid out by its tax classification then it's classed by the plod as being untaxed, and you are liable for a fine. same as if you buy a vehicle with disabled tax disc, if you are not entitled to that disc you'll get done, or have a recovery truck with tax exemption and you start using it to carry goods for hire or reward

[FredTransit]

The problem is that if you get done for the running with the ambulance tax disc DVLA will make you pay up to five times the back tax for the PLG classification from when you bought the vehicle. (the police don't actually prosecute vehicle excise offences, they merely pass the details on to the local vehicle licensing office, and the LVLO prosecute you)

There's nothing to stop you running it as an ambulance privately, (unless things have changed) but it must display the words ambulance on it, and it must be capable of carrying casualties. Also you mustn't carry any other load in it....

Here is the extract from the current regs:

Ambulances and health service vehicles
6.—(1) An ambulance is an exempt vehicle.

(2) In sub-paragraph (1)"ambulance" means a vehicle which—
(a) is constructed or adapted for, and used for no purpose other than, the carriage of sick, injured or disabled people to or from welfare centres or places where medical or dental treatment is given, and
(b) is readily identifiable as a vehicle used for the carriage of such people by being marked "Ambulance" on both sides.


And here is a link to the regs, don't blame me if it's not easy reading

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1994/Uk ... 2_en_1.htm

Looks like I am OK then, as ours is nothing but an ambulance, and I am even looking into going back to the St Johns to take my First Aid cert, then I will be not only qualified to drive the amby, but also to give first aid (I did the courses years ago but the cert has lapsed).

I think if the vehicle is not being used for the purpose laid out by its tax classification then it's classed by the plod as being untaxed, and you are liable for a fine. same as if you buy a vehicle with disabled tax disc, if you are not entitled to that disc you'll get done, or have a recovery truck with tax exemption and you start using it to carry goods for hire or reward

Good point, again I have nothing to worry about as we usually carry hanging garments commercially and anyway with a V6 it's not likely to be economical!