unimog and the rules !! FACTS needed!

[Rich Rule]

No it doesn't. The name Unimog is German, its a made up word consisting of three others

UNIversal

MOtorised

Impliment carier (Gerait traiger)

 

 

The German for tractor is Tractor.

 

The cigar is in the mouth, but the lighter is out of gas!

 

Germans spell their tractors with a K.

[openspaceman]

Easy to say when you're a **** kicker, try it around busy towns and city's, you might think differently.

 

Oddly enough the police in non farming towns don't understand agricultural vehicles, so the chances of being stopped are low if all else is in order. I see a number of tractors around surrey hauling diggers to and from building sites with apparent impunity. One guy I know has been doing it for over 40 years without being stopped, not even by HM excise.

 

The only time I got pulled was in Chiselhurst in 1981 and that was for not displaying a number plate, got off that one but wasn't allowed to proceed as the tractor lights weren't working (an offence in itself) and it was near dusk.

[treequip]

The cigar is in the mouth, but the lighter is out of gas!

 

Germans spell their tractors with a K.

 

I couldn't be rsed looking for an umlaut either.

 

I thought the point was that unimog isn't tractor. Makes me wonder what else to believe.

[eggsarascal]

Oddly enough the police in non farming towns don't understand agricultural vehicles, so the chances of being stopped are low if all else is in order. I see a number of tractors around surrey hauling diggers to and from building sites with apparent impunity. One guy I know has been doing it for over 40 years without being stopped, not even by HM excise.

 

The only time I got pulled was in Chiselhurst in 1981 and that was for not displaying a number plate, got off that one but wasn't allowed to proceed as the tractor lights weren't working (an offence in itself) and it was near dusk.

 

I live in a semi rural village only a couple of miles from a market town, which in turn is within 15-20 miles of three quite big towns, all separated by lots of farm land. If you were running a mog on red around here it wouldn't last long.

 

Horses for courses, I guess.

[openspaceman]

My take on this is two pronged, firstly is the fuel. Red for agri/forestry/horticulture which in my eyes is clear cut. Second up is the registration class, a mog or tractor running the same rules on fuel duty imho cant just switch fuel to circumnavigate registering as an HGV.

 

I agree but would still like some clarification. In the old days the only excepted vehicles were agricultural vehicles that carried the correct tax disc so there was a linkage between taxation and use of red. It was similar for digging machines which paid a higher tax (was £400/annum).

 

The problem I have understanding is the interpretation of horse pastures, recreational areas etc not being Agricultural, Forestry or Horticulture. Now it's in black and white on the gov.uk website FAQ

 

"I have a gardening business. I use my tractor to cut and treat the grass, get rid of weeds, cut hedges and perform tree surgery. I take my tractor on the public road to travel to and from where it will be used and I also go on the public road to reach the outer parts of the trees and hedges. Can I use red diesel on the public road?

 

Yes, cultivating and managing gardens is horticulture and so your tractor would be on the public road for a purpose relating to horticulture."

 

As I said in a previous post the chance of being caught going to a football pitch, supermarket car park or equestrian unit to cut trees are small and there are other available exceptions (mobile crane is a possibility?)

 

The danger of using DERV only becomes a problem when you are hauling any goods and a chip box would be questionable as to whether it was hauling (away) items necessary for the work. I'd say this was dodgy. Then the use of an agricultural tractor is unlawful in itself.

 

The other thing I cannot understand is in the last year or so a farmer was fined for cutting grass on a village green used as a football pitch. He did not cross a public road to do the work but the offence was that the land was open to the public and hence it was land to which the road traffic act applied, so came under the jurisdiction of the excise laws. As would supermarket and other car parks. Yet the HM revenue definition of a public road is one that is maintained at public expense, which does not apply to most commercial car parks. I hope he appeals because without a successful appeal the precedent is set, so you would not be allowed to operate a tractor on red in an area open to the public, even if you low loaded it.

 

As I pointed out in a long ago post, I often track a chipper (an excepted vehicle in the agricultural context and allowed to run on red) across private car parks without an L plate.

[Rich Rule]

I couldn't be rsed looking for an umlaut either.

 

I thought the point was that unimog isn't tractor. Makes me wonder what else to believe.

 

Haha, sorry couldn't resist!

[openspaceman]

I live in a semi rural village only a couple of miles from a market town, which in turn is within 15-20 miles of three quite big towns, all separated by lots of farm land. If you were running a mog on red around here it wouldn't last long.

 

Horses for courses, I guess.

 

Yes I think so Simon.

 

I know a precedent was set near you when a pioneer woodchip fuel enterprise was hauling woodchip into one of the fibrowatt power stations using fastracs, it may have been the operators licence and operating outside 24km rule if that still exists.. He lost and had to use lorries, he said afterwards he wished he'd been stopped early on as the cost of haulage using walking floor artics was a lot less that the wear and tear and wages per tonne of the fastracs even with the difference between DERV and gasoil.

[agrimog]

ok smart ars*s, but a universal motorised implement carrier in german speak is a tractor, and by all means sell your mog and buy a tractor with a 40/50k gearbox.......you still can only do 25mph max anyway, and up here in scotland, 20mph, different road traffic laws apply

[twistedhicap]

 

So are most of these tractors not legal then twisted? Most have air brakes and all sorts of things now, but like u say not usually independent suspension on rear axle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Under the construction and use definition they are legal but must be kept under 25 mph yes air brakes etc due to them being sold in other markets in Europe our laws in England say max speed for fixed rear axle tractors is 25mph and as said above 20mph in Scotland !

 

As like all these things people won't do much to slow them down it just when the brown stuff hits the rotary distributor when there is an incident and it's found that speed is a factor then driver / owner beware I guess

[agrimog]

and as a little side bar on the above, any piece of equipment used on the tractors must be capable of the speed, most agri trailers are not, the brakes are not compliant, and the tyres are not speed rated, so work it out......3 points for speeding, 3 points per tyre, 3points for defective brakes, so on a simple 2 wheeled trailer, your licence is gone, not to mention the cost in fines, is it worth it for a few minutes off the traveling time.