SLROC Forum

Was in work and had an health and safety brief about driving from strathclyde police. They brought up the topic of trackers in works vans to enforce the 60 MPH speed limit on vans on motorways. First I had never heard of this limit, however I never asked at brief but does any one know if this rule includes 90 hardtops as they technically are vans ?

Somebody has their wires crossed, motorway speed limit for vans etc up to 7500kg is still 70mph,dual carriageway though is 60mph.Look at GOV.UK  My 110 doublecab is taxed as a light goods vehicle therefore 60 on dual carriageways.

So why do some work vans have restricted speed stickers on them , is this to stop fines . So 60 MPH on dual carriageways if a plod considers a hardtop 90 as a van .

Company policy, majority of Royal Mail vans were restricted electronically to 75 mph, (only because of the ecu limits) the sticker on the back says 70, I fitted one to the back of my (unrestricted) works Focus estate as the tracker registered when above 74mph,I got fed up with people tailgating me at 73,I could not go any faster as the phone call from head office was not long in coming.

https://www.gov.uk/speed-limits
Possibly i am over the speed limit.
But then so will be most Defender Hard Tops i see including Police ones.

Even if over 2 tonnes max laden weight,
I go on the historic thing that many if not most Land Rovers were classed on the V5 as 'Light Utility', which pre double cab pickups was really what was considered as 'Dual Purpose', & i comply with that speed limit.
Passenger Vehicle & not Commercial.
Road tax PLG
One day a Land Rover Hard Top & a few hours later it could be a County or a Truck Cab.

Possibly different if your vehicle is classed as Commercial & you are towing for gain or reward and have a Tachograph fitted.

If you are limited to 50mpg on single carraigeways then thats where you might be more liable to  be caught out, but will a 'Speed Safety Camera Van' be identifying your class of vehicle', there were 'non fixed' cameras on the A9 for a while that where getting Commercials over their limit at Ballinluig.

george

we had this issue at work (british gas) some vans are clear cut transit vivaro etc, the grey area comes in with car derived vans at the time we had transit connects, vauxhall combos, renault kangoo and citreon berlingo , basically all the same sized vans, we had an engineer caught on camera in glenrothes  in a combo doing 70, the ticket was queried with fife police, the traffic inspector later dropped the charge. we then asked for clarification from them and took four vans along . the kangoo,combo and berlingo were classed as car derived but the transit connect was classed as a panel van, this was due to how the manufacturers classed them.
the company now has a blanket lower speed limit set on the fleet and governors set at 74

there is also differences in 110,s  mine is a 110 hard top and the log book says 2995 kg and so is mot,d as class 4 some are plated as 3500kg and motd class 7  although i dont think theres any difference in them , i believe the ex utility company ones are plated higher.

 A L/R 90 or 110 is a dual purpose vehicle being constructed or adapted for the carriage of both passengers and goods or burden of any description and having an UNLADEN design weight not exceeding 2040 kgs and is so constructed or adapted that the driving power of the engine is, or by the use of the appropriate controls, can be transmitted to all the wheels of the vehicle. This therefore also covers 88's or 109's.

 The crucial point is that it is the unladen weight which counts not the gross permitted weight. The logical extension of that is that almost any L/R which has a Class 7 test cert has been tested "out of class" & therefore technically has not got a current test certificate, also the tester has breached the Test Regs & could be disciplined accordingly.

 The above information is readily available on the VOSA website in the Guide to The Test section A4.2

As i understand it, and i may well be totally wrong,
if a 110, 130 or a 150 with the appropriate plate is tested as a Class 7, it has had its brakes tested to a higher standard to suit higher weight & the MOT issued by VOSA is totally valid.

'They' VOSA/DVLA were after all intending to introduce the Class 7 MOT for certain 110's in January 2010, & got the whole thing wrong and had to suspend the introduction.

george

 MOT Test Stations & their testers are authorised to conduct tests on specific classes of vehicle ie class IV or class VII etc. The test can only be carried out by an appropriately authorised tester @ a Test Station authorised to conduct such tests. ie class IV cannot test class VII etc. It matters not if the standard applied is perceived to be "higher or lower". The vehicle must be tested "In Class" to be duly considered to have a current test certificate.

 The issue of whether or not VOSA intend to change the limits or not is irrelevant, the current standards are what must be applied until they are changed.  The foregoing may appear to be pedantic but "rules is rules", I have known many MOT cases to turn on what may appear to be trivialities but to the tester threatened with loss of authority to test it may be what saves his job.

They are exactly that, Rules are rules.

So a Vehicle which might be a special build and plated as a Class 7, Utilities, ex utilities 110 etc,
 can be tested at a Station that can test Class 7's and do a class 7 test on it.

No tester in a Station without Class 7 equipment will do that test.
They know which vehicles to do the test on.
THey Log on and put the details in before the Test starts and get the Test Pass printed out.

Where a Class 7 test is not required, it is not going to be getting done surely, so actually i am now lost by the point of your or my posts.
george

thing to watch out for is the cops dont seem to know the rules

my daily hack and bike carrier is a peugeot partner car derived van.

Ive been stopped twice for doing 70 on non motorway dualers (we have a few in aberdeenshire)

bit of arguing , them saying its a van , me saying its car derived and built on a car chassis designed for having 5 seats ..... followed by me getting out pulling my seat forward and showing them the rear foot wells under the load area has sorted it.

the limit was the season i bought the french bucket instead of a connect LWB !

So guessing from this that a hardtop is limited to 60 on dual carriageways ?

does this apply to the crew cab commercial jap pick ups - navara hilux etc ..... ?

fwiw my 90 is limited to 50 on the dual carridge way by its engine anyway

i recall a sign in the office informing us about the landrovers and speed limits (when i was a linesman)

defender 90/110 is car derived and although has 3,500kg max gross is allowed to do same speeds as car.
defender 130 is not car derived and limited to light goods vehicle speeds. ie 50 on dual, 50 on b roads