Justme

What sort of vehicle? IE 4x4, pickup, van ect.

Nope, The chipper is still yours, part of your job is hiring it out. You would still be "operating on your own accord". You can deliver goods on hire. Look at the examples. It even uses equipment hire in them.

Good question. Not my area of knowledge. I think it would depend on the 3500kg vehicles registered category. I would hope that it only applies to the base vehicle as some times it would be over 3500kg when it has the trailer & sometimes it would not be over as it did not. A quick google come up with this So in that case is over 3500kg inc the trailer or not? Will it have exemptions like the Tacho & O licence does? Again a quick gooogle says that lots of vehicles are exempt I guess there will be other exemptions too. I cant find the legislation re if the trailer weight is counted or not. I will look into this. I am at the inspection site in two weeks so can ask them if there is someone around. It would def have different speed limits as its towing, just like most non car based vans have lower limits not that you would think it when you see them being driven.

Most of the stops will be by normal police officers. They dont have the in depth knowledge that a traffic cop or DVSA staff will have. Plus you do get the odd one of the other two who is not up to date (like its now a 100km radius not 50km) so if you have copies of the relevant docs it can soon sort the issue out on the road side. Its also worth knowing the O licence rules as they have recently been changed & now include any vehicle over 3500kg & in this case vehicle includes combinations IE vehicle & trailer. There are lots of exemptions but if you dont know they apply then you are likely to get pulled & a ticket issued.

Form attached. When I said pre filled in I meant that you fill it in prior to using the vehicle. Not waiting till you get stopped & then filling it in. Just fill it in & keep in the cab. VOSA tachograph_exemption_form.docx

Narrow trailers are a pain to reverse.

Thats not a certified volume measurement device with a paper trail of evidence re is suitability for the job its doing. They want scales or other devices that have a certification re there accuracy.

Its in their publicly available documentation. Actually from a VOSA branded document. Its re O licences but is about the same definition of what "Hire or Reward" is. They cant use different definitions of what "Hire or Reward" is for different regulations. This is what it says. Couriers, freight & removals do not carry goods they own. It then says It then goes on to give examples, in these examples it talks of a digger but goods would be treated the same:- As I always say, in the end its up to you to choose what you will do. Its better to keep this sort of stuff out of court if you can as there is only ever one winner in court & thats the legal teams. However with the right documentation in the cab (inc a pre filled in exemption form that VOSA / DVSA supply) & a good knowledge of the regulations it should not get further than a short road side stop. This is one area that has been very misunderstood in the past just like when the 97 licence changes came in & mostly farmers were getting stopped with a 3500kg trailer behind a pick up with a 2800kg (number out of the air) tow limit got done when in actual fact they are legal as long as the real weight was withing the 2800kg limit. Plated weights were only applicable for non +E licence holders. Its also like the current misunderstanding that a Cat B licence holder can only tow 750kg. Or that they can only drive a combination of up to 3500kg GTW even if the trailer is 750kg only & the trailer cant weigh more than the unladen car weight. When the truth is that a 3500kg car can still tow 750kg in addition to that making a 4250kg GTW or they can drive a combination of up to 3500kg GTW with a trailer that weighs more than 750kg & weighs more than the car as long as its withing the makers GTW limits.

Yes when using a trailer. VOSA do not exist any more, its the DVSA. There is clear guidance on what is & what is not "hire & reward". Just because you make money from it does not make it hire & reward. A hire company can deliver its own equipment & its still not hire or reward re the delivery. Think more like haulage & courier work delivering other peoples goods under contract not delivering your own goods once sold.

Just remember that the quoted weight if with the standard equipment so the extra rear gate/ramp, mesh sides, props, jockey wheel & spare all come out of the load capacity.

Very few log sellers will need a tacho. You would need to either be carrying them for another seller so you are just doing haulage or be delivering outside of a 100km radius of your base. Carrying your own product or product you have sold inc delivery is not hire & reward.

It was a consideration. I do lots of metal work so could sort it easily. The main reason for not doing it was noise. Empty trailers rattle like buggery. A metal floor would be loud when empty. Then when you drop stuff metal floors dont like that while a ply one just bounces. I guess noise wise if I welded it at every point it touched it would not be too bad. Would make it very solid.

It came with the standard Phenolic Resin Coated Ply floor. That lasted about 10 years. Replaced it with a thicker recycled plastic chipboard stuff. Not a good call. About half the price but wont last 20% of the time.

We bought our light trailer about 13 years ago. Over that time it has needed a few repairs, most of them in the last 3 years, like a new floor, new bearings, needs new tyres now, a few pop rivets have gone & been replaced by welding, new light units (not damaged just faded & starting to corrode). So not too bad considering it has been used nearly ever week of that time. It was a no name import I bought from a local dealer & cost about £550. Oh & the rear hinges need replacing too. Its the construction thats the issue its been designed so that the sides are very structural & the floor is all that holds the side in place laterally. But they are only held on by a few small welds at the rear & two bolts at the front. As show in the pics the red arrows are the bolts & the green points were held by a few rivets that have now been welded up. The extra metal is needed across the wheel area as only the floor holds them in position. When it next needs a strip down I am going to add a few strips of metal in a few place to improve things. Prob less than 10kg of steel in total but will make a huge different to it.

You wont get much of a trailer for 150kg. I have one with that spec & it has lasted me a long time. However its not heavy duty & would soon fail if treated that way.

Just make sure if you use that hitch that the trailer has a rotating hitch fitted & you have unlocked it.

With your standard Cat B licence & that car you might be able to go as high as a 1500kg MAM trailer. You cant have a car & trailer combination of up to 3500kg GTW (thats the MAM of the car & the MAM of the trailer added together). Or a car up to 3500kg & a 750kg trailer. Do you know the MAM of the car? The kerb weight is about 1500kg So I would expect it to be about 2000-2100kg. That leaves 1400-1500kg for the trailer.

Looks like they are trying to get round the trailer testing regulations too, claiming its been made from an old trailer base frame. The pic is the 3500kg one too.

I dont like the last one. All that is stopping the ball lifting is a small pin in shear. The type you get from agri places have a threaded portion & a nut to stop it lifting. You wont find a pin that will take a NATO hitch. Just change the trailers hitch to a standard one if you are happy with the trailer.

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If powering from a supply that is too powerful you need a proportional control splitter. That will lower the flow so stop over heating or over action of the pressure release valve.

Without the % they start at does knowing they have lost X% help?

We have the SFW212. You can get a wood burning plate for it if you dont have it already. Ours does all our winter:- cooking, domestic hot water & heating. It heats a thermal store that supplies the rads & hotwater. Our rad demand is quite low at a total of 2500watts output & only on for 3 hours a day tops, normally less. Outside of winter it does spring / autumn doing the same but not rads & the water gets help via the solar thermal tubes. Its also not on every day if we can manage without it. In summer its only on if the solar tubes dont supply enough hot water.

Not my area of work so I dont know, sorry. Under 3500kg is non tacho & non O licence. Working hours regs is something I have tried to keep out off. If you think needing a tacho or not is complex then working hours regs is even worse. Lots of if's, what if's & conditional on's.

Does not matter as the delivery is part of the sale. You are delivering items you sold. If that is your worry then just put it in your T&C's that until transfer of good to them the stock remains your property. Its only when you deliver my items its a problem.