Revenue weight - problem at MOT time

The military manual for the Series III Lightweight, and the combined serial number and weight plate on the driver's side of the seatbox, both give a gross laden weight of 2020 kg. (Which gives just over half a ton for payload and driver, on roads.)

I think it definitely needs confirming for the earlier models.

Swansea's database is _not_ reliable. It led to be getting a private parking ticket for leaving a combine harvester in a supermarket carpark, two years after they stopped sending me tax/SORN reminders when I sold it. It was later exported to Cyprus.

Like most government computer systems, they have a severe GIGO problem, and seem pretty uncaring about fixing it.

MOT garages always get confused when they get anything that isnt standard.

I was under the impression that the cut off point for class 4 MOT's was 3500kg* - so yours at 3499 should still fall within this.

(* though motor caravans and ambulances are exempt from this limit and can always get class 4's whatever the weight)

Also, isnt a landrover classed as a 'dual purpose vehicle' - and this should also entitle it to a class 4.

I keep meaning to get a copy of the road vehicles construction and use regulations (i think its that one i needed) out of the library to have a read. Nobody understands the rules.

3000Kg??

Indeed, but due to their physical size and sometimes their weight they must be done at a class 7 testing station even though it's a class 4 test.

Yes, as long as it isn't a truck cab, 'cos then it falls into the commercial sector as it hasn't been constructed or adapted to carry passengers etc etc, I'd need to nip into the garage and read the manual to be precise though.

Badger.

[1]

It's Targets. Targets are all that matter. Meet your Targets and you'll Be A Good Manager. Causing havoc and ruining peoples lives does not matter, it's not a Target. Failing to keep customers happy does not matter, it's not a Target. Helping people to put things right does not matter either, guess what - it's not a Target. Indeed, waste your time actually sorting things out and you will miss your Target, thereby becomming a Bad Manager.

But the really galling thing is that these mamagers who are getting paid a fortune to force the poor sods that work for them to meet their Targets haven't got the spine to turn round and say it's wrong. And they are almost certainly the first on the phone to Jeremy Vine when they get treated the same way.

Personaly, I don't know how they sleep at night.

Richard

[1] Still seething, 6 years later, about getting a phone bill demand from a company who had bought a non-existant debt from BT. Calls BT call-centre..... BT: "We couldn't find your address". Me: "You haven't got a phone book then?" BT: "But you might not have been the right person". Me: "You managed to change our Direct Debit over to this number and address". BT: "Oh dear, that seems to be Option 11 out of 10 on my screen, I'll have to put the phone down on you". Bye-bye BT, hello NTL!

My SIIa SWB has a GVM of 2000kg according to it's NZ registration documents - which I trust on vehicles that were registered before 1985 when the system fell apart. The S3 SWB that's lurking on my lawn has a GVM of 2020kg according to it's VIN plate (as do the plates for sale on ebay).

Cut-off point for Class 4 is 2999kg. 3000-3499kg are class 7 unless 'dual purpose' which basically means 4 wheel drive with seats in the back. So a plain commercial Land Rover should not be 'dual purpose' - although I suspect a lot of MOT testers have been using the dual purpose exemption to get round this problem, which may be why I have not read anything about it before now. I suspect the safest course of action is to get the revenue weight changed well before the next MoT is due.

Richard

The fact that it is 4wd means it does not have to comply with the other things a no 4wd dual purpose does. I still have the DVLA letter stating my 110 is dual purpose somewhere.

AJH

i have just been on the landrover.com website .

maximum gross vehicle weight for a defender 90 hardtop is 2400kg [2500kg maximum axle ]

for a 110 hardtop its 3050kg [3500 maximum axle] .

looks like i have to change my log book listed weight as mine shows

3500kg and i have a 90 defender .

Well my limo was plated for sommat ridiculos like 3.7 tonnes, and I always got it MOT's at the Council depot, because they had ramps long enough. However I always had it MoT''d as a private car not a commercial.

Just looked at my new style V5C

It has a lot of blanks on it, including Maximum permissible mass and mass in service which are not recorded

It is merely a PLG with the body type Estate

Does not even state the number of seats.

In other words I suspect there database has rather little information recorded on it at all

But there is mention in the description of a "dual purpose vehicle" in the testers manual that states something to do with "constructed or adapted" that infers that it must carry passengers other than in the front only, which effectively rules out a truck-cab, making a 109/110 truck-cab commercial and therefore class 7. I'll have a re-read next time I do a test to confirm this. Badger.

I now have (I think) a definitive answer from VOSA. If a vehicle has four wheel drive, an unladen weight of 2040kg or less, and is able to carry passengers, it is classed as a dual purpose vehicle for MOT purposes and subject to class 4. 'Carrying passengers' includes the front seats, so you do not need to have seats in the back for the vehicle to be dual purpose. Nor do you need a hard top, side windows etc.

'Dual purpose' has different meanings for different purposes - tachograph rules, SVA tests, Customs & Excise etc all have their own definitions. Very confusing.

I still wonder about Forward Controls though - are they less than

2040kg unladen? I have seen the unladen weight of a IIB FC quoted at 4505lbs, which is 2047kg. I don't think there is any other model over 2040kg apart from the 127/130 crew cab. And presumably for any Land Rover, a really bloody-minded tester can demand proof of the unladen weight.

Anyway, hopefully all this will be helpful to anyone who finds their Landie being refused an MOT on grounds of revenue weight.

Richard

Does the term revenue weight mean that this onlty applies to commercials or does it apply to PLG as well. Mine is a Defender CSW with 12 seats and I had a nightmare problem when I first got it new in 1998. No one could tell me when the MoT was due as it had 12 seats it was treated as amini bus and neede one after 12 months not 3 years. I checked my V5 and the revenue weight section is blank ??

John H

glencoyne wrote:

This is the definition given in the testers guide

"Dual-purpose vehicle means a vehicle constructed or adapted for the carriage both of passengers and of goods or burden of any description, where the unladen weight does not exceed 2,040 kilograms, and which satisfies the following conditions as to construction: a-the vehicle must be permanently fitted with a rigid roof, with or without a sliding panel; b-the area to the rear of the driver's seat must - (i) -be permanently fitted with at least one row of transverse seats (fixed or folding) for 2 or more passengers and those seats must be properly sprung or cushioned and provided with upholstered back-rests; attached either to the seats or to a side or the floor of the vehicle; and (ii) -be lit on each side and at the rear by a window or windows of glass or other transparent material having an area or aggregate area of not less than 1,850 square centimeters on each side and not less than 770, square centimeters at the rear; and c-the distance between the rearmost part of the steering wheel and the back-rests of the row of transverse seats satisfying the requirements specified in sub-paragraph b(i) above or, if there is more than one such row of seats, the distance between the rearmost part of the steering wheel and the back-rests of the rearmost such row must, when the seats are ready for use, be not less than one-third of the distance between the rear most part of the steering wheel and the rear most part of the floor of the vehicle."

so it needs a roof it needs seats in the back and it needs windows

In other words, if it's a LWB truck cab then it's a class 7 test, which is what I thought I'd read. Badger.

VOSA really don't have a clue, do they? I give up.

:(

Specifically, if it's a 110 truck cab (GLW 3050kg) it is class 7. A series 3 109 truck cab (GLW 2710kg) should be class 4, provided the revenue weight on the V5C is correct, which it probably won't be.

Thanks very much to everyone who has provided useful information. I have summarised the position as I understand it at:

Richard

On or around Wed, 21 Dec 2005 10:15:12 +0000 (UTC), "Badger" enlightened us thusly:

and hardtop (van) ones as well, but only if it's above the specified weight, presumably. I didn't think ordinary ones were. The payload in a normal 109 van is not all that much, hence the high-capacity one being called "one ton", the normal ones aren't meant to carry a ton. doesn't mean they won't, of course - I've had about a ton in a SWB before now :-)

On or around 21 Dec 2005 02:44:39 -0800, "glencoyne" enlightened us thusly:

I assume revenue weight and GLW which you describe are also the same as GVW (Gross vehicle Weight) which is now MAM (Maximum Authorised Mass)?