What do you think?

[treequip]

So why do farmers get away with red??

 

They don’t generally “get away with red”, they have an exemption to use it for farming activities. If a farmer engages in commercial tree surgery or collected tree surgery arisings they ought to use derv.

 

The only “getting away with it” would be not getting caught abusing the rebated fuel for a purpose it’s not intended for but that would be the same for anyone else, not just farmers.

[Peter]

I worked out the other day that if I want to drive from North Leicestershire to topend of Lancashire to "cold call" people I could leave at 07:00 but I had to be home by 16:45. I usually like to keep days that are about 12 hours long because I want to, not because the Taco is ticking.......It gets right up my nose that regulations stop me from working.

 

Under EU rules you can have a 13 hour day, but you have to get the breaks in the right places, and actually drive/work no more than 9 hours. So if you are sitting around somewhere for a few hours of that day, and you can record that as break, you should be fine.

 

If 13 hour days arent long enough, if you know the rules well enough it is possible to have a 15 hour day, and work/drive no more than 10 hours, but you can only do that twice a week.

 

Should be plenty for even the most battle hardened rep.

[PeteB]

Surely, when your a battle hardened rep then your working from the minute you leave the house/office, and driving is only a means of getting around you're patch. Apart from stopping for sandwich at lunch the taco is either on "driving" or "other work", either way it is work. So how could I get the most out the taco rules?

 

What rules would apply if, for example, I did treework, left home at 08:00, had a ten minute break in the morning, half an hour at lunch and got back to the yard at 17:30. I've pre 97 licence and I'm towing 1.5t behind a Transit or 4x4. Should it have a taco in the cab? Oh, and I work anywhere!

[Peter]

Far be it from me to suggest that you might set the tacho to break when you are having a friendly cup of tea with a client.

 

Assuming you are driving a 3.5 tonne vehicle, and towing a 1.5 tonne trailer, you fall under EU regs.

 

Therefore, you can drive for 4.5 hours, then you need a 45 minute break, then you can drive another 4.5 hours, so thats 08.00-12.30 driving/work, 12.30-13.15 break, 13.15-17.45 driving/work.

 

Working outside a 50km radius, so no exemption for only carrying tools and materials, so you need a tachograph.

[PeteB]

Hmm, I wonder how many trucks have tacographs fitted and get used correctly?

 

As for the suggestion of putting the thing on rest whilst partaking of a lid of tea, can that be done easily with the new digital units too? Not that I'm wishing to cheat the sytem of course!

[Peter]

Yes. If you get a digi tacho you need a digi drivers card as well, costs about £30 I think, and you will need to carry it even if you are using a analogue tacho that day.

 

Overall, I would rather have an analogue, as the digi units make it very easy for VOSA to keep tabs on your every movement, and they dont really cut dont on paperwork.

 

When I worked for a LA, a few years ago, they were just starting to get 3.5 tonners with tachos coming through on leasing plans. They also started making us keep proper drivers hours records for the 7.5 tonners.

[PeteB]

This slightly derailed the original thread for which I apologise.

 

However, it does highlight the fact that many people do not think that Taco use is relevent to them. I too prefer the analogue unit over the digi stuff, but all newer trucks (under 3 years?) should have the digi unit which, as you pointed out - is always recording.

[skyhuck]

They don’t generally “get away with red”, they have an exemption to use it for farming activities. If a farmer engages in commercial tree surgery or collected tree surgery arisings they ought to use derv.

 

The only “getting away with it” would be not getting caught abusing the rebated fuel for a purpose it’s not intended for but that would be the same for anyone else, not just farmers.

 

My understanding of it is that the farmer can use red for the every day farm work, going too a frow from fields etc, as he is not paid directly for this and so is not classed as hire or reward.

 

However he cannot take cattle to market on red as they are going for sale and he will gain directly from that journey.

 

I was told that timber being taken from a job is not classed as goods and need value adding (sliting and drying) and so is not the same as haulage so a tacho is not required.

[PeteB]

However he cannot take cattle to market on red as they are going for sale and he will gain directly from that journey.

 

 

Yeh right!

 

Look in any town on cattle market day and you'll see a plethora of tractors hooked upto trailers that have had a few beast or sheep in there.

[Tom D]

To get back on topic, I have a 54 plate 115 transit, it pulls like a train and would easlly tow a 2 ton chipper all day, mine has towed my tractor on a 16foot ifor which is close to 3.5 ton, I was surprised how well it went, its hilly round here too. I can honestly say I think that deapite clutch problems the tranny is a good van and perfectly capable of doing what you require. Just get it chipped / remapped but don't go crazy, 120 brake would be plenty.

 

My own chipper is 1.5 ton BTW