LEGISLATION
David Hurley
HISTORIC VEHICLES MoT EXEMPTION REVIEW
The Department for Transport issued a consultation paper in November 2011 proposing as its preferred option a complete exemption from testing requirements for all pre-1960 vehicles, a far wider proposal than had been considered within FBHVC. Other options being considered by DfT were complete exemptions for all pre-1945 vehicles and all pre-1920 vehicles, or do nothing. The background to the discussions on the MoT test consultations has been well reported in previous newsletters.
The three month consultation period was inadequate for FBHVC to employ its usual method to gain feedback on these wider proposals. Consequently, it was decided to gauge the views of enthusiasts by means of an on-line survey and full details were given in the last newsletter, on the website, and to the press.
Over 4000 responses were gathered on-line. The survey enabled comment on the choice of cut-off date and at the time of going to press these comments are still being analysed, although it has been possible to broadly categorise these opinions. Those taking part were asked to indicate the age of vehicle they owned, and this piece of information will also be taken into account when the final analysis of the results has been made.
Summary of Results
· 74% of respondents wish to see testing requirements for historic vehicles relaxed.
· 59% support the government’s preferred option of exempting all pre-1960 vehicles.
· 71% believe historic vehicles in commercial use should be subject to testing even if other pre-1960 vehicles are exempted; 14% said commercial use should make no difference to testing requirements..
· 53% of respondents said they would take their vehicles for test if this could be done on a voluntary basis; 33% said they would not seek a voluntary test.
The opinions and reasons for them were qualified in many of the responses with conditional statements that the choice only applied if various conditions were met. Most common conditions were that there should be:
· no risk of restriction on use;
· no risk of increased insurance premiums for untested vehicles;
· no risk of insurers demanding (expensive) engineer’s reports;
· some facility for a formal standardised test to demonstrate roadworthiness.
The report will be published in full on the FBHVC website, www.fbhvc.co.uk, when the analysis has been completed.
In the last issue we indicated that we are seeking clarification from the DfT on aspects of the consultation, in particular on the ability to submit vehicles that fall inside the scope of any exemption to a voluntary test. The necessity for an MoT test is enshrined in other regulations: first registration on import; as part of the V765 procedure; obtaining an age related mark; transfer of marks; re-licensing from unlicensed etc. In all these circumstances a test is necessary for safety reasons and the prevention of fraud, and in the case of the import of vehicles never registered in the UK, conformity with Construction and Use regulations where the current Individual Vehicle Approval test would not be appropriate. We will be asking the Department for Transport to seriously consider this.
We are very grateful to all those who took part in the survey and also to Jim Whyman who did the analysis and administration while working to a very tight deadline.
By the time this newsletter is published, the analysis will have been completed and the board will have considered all feedback received before finalising FBHVC's response to the consultation.
There is a similar consultation taking place in Northern Ireland called: Proposal on Possible Exemption of Certain Categories of Historic Vehicles from MoT Testing. We will be sending a response to the Department of the Environment Road Safety and Vehicle Regulation Division to this consultation as well.
TRANSFORMING DVLA SERVICES
This consultation issued on 13 December was a Christmas present we could have done without – so could staff of DVLA Local Offices throughout the UK, who that morning were told that all LOs would close during 2013. This action will remove all face to face contact by the user public with DVLA staff.
Briefly, the DVLA stance is that the progress of computerisation needs to continue. To quote: ‘This means driving forward existing services such as increasing take up of driver services on-line. It also means making other transactions available electronically where this is cost effective and maximising uptake by making them as user friendly as possible’.
The consultation majors on increasing use of their existing vehicle licence transactions on-line (and telephone) services, but their (loaded) figures actually show that more than 50% of private users do not avail themselves of these facilities. Their so-called customer survey was based on on-line users only, ignoring the majority who do not, or cannot, use this facility for their transaction. There are vague promises to engage with ‘intermediaries’ but whether this is to provide computer access only, or a genuine replacement for end users with queries is also unclear. For individuals who are not computer literate are unlikely to use a DVLA provided facility.
The document then promises at some unspecified time in the future, to simplify other processes to enable additional transactions to be added to on-line facilities, no doubt on a cost effective basis. What they don’t mention are various transactions where we all, as old vehicle owners, necessarily have to go to our Local Office.
Examples include:
· Taxing an historic vehicle for the first time;
· Authentication of copy documentation for transmission to Swansea in lieu of valuable originals;
· Same day receipt of replacement tax discs for lost or stolen discs;
· Same day receipt of tax discs for taxing at short notice (including paper MoT and insurance cover notes);
· Taxing vehicles where there is also a change of taxation class e.g. unlicensed to historic, PSV to PLG;
· Taxing a vehicle exempt from MoT (I wonder how long Post Offices will be able do this?);
· Reinstatement of an original registration number where this had been replaced at some time in the past but has remained dormant;
· Inspection of vehicles which require an age related number or a chassis number;
· Inspection of imported vehicles requiring UK registration.
The FBHVC will be responding appropriately and remind all clubs and individuals that they may also send their own responses to this very important consultation. Hard copies of the consultation are available by writing to Corporate Affairs Directorate, D16, DVLA, Swansea, SA6 7JL. (The consultation did not provide a contact name or phone number.) Or www.dft.gov.uk/dvla then click on consultation. The consultation closes 6 March 2012.
Nigel Harrison has also written on some of the above points elsewhere in the newsletter.
RED TAPE CHALLENGE
This response has been received at the FBHVC office following our various responses to items in the ongoing Red Tape Challenge:
Earlier this year, you helped provide ideas as part of the Red Tape Challenge on road transportation. The Department for Transport has just published its response to the suggestions that you and others put forward. These include:
· Scrapping the regulation requiring motorists to hold a paper counterpart to their driving licence by 2015 – saving drivers up to £8m.
· Improving the regulation surrounding the notification process for vehicles that are not in use on the road (Statutory Off Road Notification or SORN). Once drivers have notified the DVLA that their vehicle is SORN, they will no longer have the burden of annual renewal.
· Only issuing hard-copies of V5 vehicle registration certificates for fleet operators when needed (and possibly for private motorists in the future).
· Introducing a limited exemption from drivers’ hours rules so that those who also drive as Territorial Army reservists in their own time can continue to do so.
If you want to learn more, the DfT press notice is here: http://www.dft.gov.uk/news/press-releases/dft-press-20111215. Details on what we are doing for all 376 regulations from this theme in the Red Tape Challenge can be found at: http://www.dft.gov.uk/consultations/gov-20110520. Across all themes so far, of over 1200 regulations considered through the Red Tape Challenge, we have agreed to scrap or improve well over 50%.
FUEL NEWS
FUEL STABILITY ADDITIVE TESTING
Unfortunately the testing on the fuel stability additives suffered another set-back at the end of last year. Delays resulted initially because of unexpected contamination in the corrosion testing process, which forced the abandonment of the test programme about half-way through the 13 week test cycle. The cycle was started again in the late summer/early autumn, but difficulties were then experienced in making the test severe enough to ensure that candidate additives were adequately put through their paces. This unfortunately led to further delays while the test protocol was refined to ensure that the method would select only those candidate additives offering real protection against potential corrosion from petrol containing ethanol. The Federation recognises that these delays are unfortunate, but wishes owners of historic vehicles to be reassured that any endorsement given for a protective fuel additive will be of real value. This important objective is regarded as overriding the pressing need to issue endorsements at the earliest opportunity.
Testing began again just before Christmas and currently shows that additives are providing good corrosion protection. We continue to monitor performance and will be able to make a definitive statement on the completion of the 13 week test programme. The Federation respectfully requests the forbearance of everyone who is waiting for definitive test results.
FIBREGLASS FUEL TANKS
Last year we raised a question about legality of fibreglass fuel tanks with the Department for Transport following a number of enquiries from members. They confirm that regulation 39(2)(c) of The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations requires all petrol tanks on vehicles first used after 1 July 1973 to be metal. This applies to all vehicle types. There are no requirements on the material of diesel tanks.
The only exemption from the requirement for road vehicles is for vehicles with fuel tanks approved to Directive 70/221/EEC or ECE Regulation 34. These permit plastic tanks provided they have passed impact resistance, mechanical strength, fuel permeability and fire resistance tests.
EU LEGISLATION
FIVA meeting with the European Commission on roadworthiness testing and registration
FIVA met with officials from the European Commission’s DG MOVE (responsible for Roadworthiness Testing), and DG Enterprise, (responsible for vehicle registration) in November. During the meeting, the Commission officials explained their view that the definition of a historic vehicle in the existing Roadworthiness Testing Directive needs to be changed and that a definition of a historic vehicle should be built into the Commission’s work on vehicle registration. The Commission sought help to shape its views on a definition and FIVA is currently asking all ANFs to provide up-to-date information about their Member State type-approval, registration and roadworthiness testing regulations applicable to historic vehicles and to also gather as much information as possible about problems experienced by FIVA members when attempting to register their vehicles in another member state.
MEP Historic Vehicle Group Meeting
The European Parliament Historic Vehicle Group held a meeting on 1 December. The Group invited William Borthwick (DG MOVE Clean Transport and Sustainable Urban Mobility) to attend to explain the motivation behind policy initiatives to achieve clean urban transport and to discuss related initiatives and their impact on historic vehicles. Also attending was Dutch emissions expert, Rudolf Rijkeboer.
Mr Borthwick explained the Commission’s desire to reduce carbon emissions to help mitigate against climate change and the need to substitute oil for both environmental and security of supply reasons and explained the implementing measures which include developing and promoting alternative fuels and developing access restriction zones. In the ensuing discussion it was noted that:
· E10 fuel damages historic vehicles and that there is therefore a need to ensure supply and availability of fuels suitable for historic vehicle use.
· Work by the fuel companies to develop fungible fuels should be examined to assess their impact on HV use.
· Emissions from historic vehicles are not a part of the problem identified by policy makers as: the vehicle emission legislation which has been developed over the past 40 years has proved successful in reducing CO; PM is still being addressed but it is a problem caused by modern vehicles, not historic vehicles; the new current concern is NO2 emissions and is primarily a consequence of catalytic converters designed to reduce NOx.
· ‘Use’ does not need to be a component of a regulated definition of a historic vehicle: historic vehicles will generally be used less than other vehicles but that a ‘use’ criterion is not appropriate for inclusion in regulatory texts as it is unnecessary and would prove difficult to regulate and enforce.
· FIVA has maintained discussions with the European Commission on the roadworthiness testing Directive and participated in consultations on the functioning of the Internal Market vis-á-vis registration/re-registration of vehicles and on individual vehicle type approval and that FIVA has meet with officials from DG MOVE and Enterprise where the focus of debate was the definition of a historic vehicle. Malcolm Harbour MEP noted that the EP Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee Report has identified vehicle registration as one of the top 20 single-market-related sources of consumer dissatisfaction and frustration.
European Commission consultation on alternative fuels
FIVA has submitted views to the European Commission on a consultation on the future infrastructure requirement to ensure the increased use of alternative fuels in the EU. The submission stated FIVA’s view that both traditional fuels and E5 must remain available on the market to ensure the continued use of historic vehicles because experience has also shown significant technical problems for historic vehicles by the use of E10 - with vehicles most likely to be affected being vehicles ten years old or older, carburettored vehicles and first generation direct spark ignition vehicles.
DVLA
Nigel Harrison
DVLA LOCAL OFFICE CLOSURES
Further to David Hurley’s article on the actual consultation here is a bit more detail on the work of the Local Offices and the possible consequences of their closure.
Original document certification: The whole purpose of having a certified copy is that there is then no chance of the original documents being lost in the post. If DVLA Local Offices are to disappear, then there needs to be a system whereby certified copies can be made of original documents which are still acceptable to DVLA Swansea, at a location which is no further away than the DVLA Local Office.
Checking of Insurance and MOT: The common feature of the many transactions is the need to check the MoT and insurance. If a registration number is not yet allocated to the vehicle, the MoT and insurance is recorded under the chassis number, and it is difficult to see how this could be checked electronically. The other option for DVLA is to assume that the vehicle has an MoT and is insured. The onus would then be on the owner to get the MoT and insurance changed to reflect the new registration number before the next Continuous Insurance comparison is done between taxed vehicles and insured vehicles.
V55/5 Vehicle details form: Where a vehicle is not actually registered the way of conveying this information to DVLA for historic vehicles is via a V55/5 form: a ‘catch all’ complicated carbonised three page form, not available for download, where only around a third of the information requested on the front of the form is applicable to an historic vehicle. It is difficult to see how this could be done electronically. Would the substitute be either a walk-in service, or using the post?
Proof of ID: Currently when a vehicle is being registered for the first time with DVLA (except for a V765 application), proof of ID is required. Would an electronic check of the proposed keepers driving licence now be sufficient, if a check is still deemed required?
Application documents: With some types of applications there will be a dating letter and photographs. Unless there is some form of ‘walk in’ service where these items can be scanned and sent to DVLA Swansea, it looks as if it would need to be a postal application, causing an extra delay.
Vehicle Inspection: DVLA have the option to inspect a vehicle before it is registered. Often this is done at the DVLA Local Office. If an inspection is required, there needs to be some form of ‘drive-in’ service, which is no further away than the DVLA normal inspection location.
Applications for non-computer users: The assumption of DVLA appears to be that if an applicant has no access to the internet at home they can adequately use the on-line facilities of a ‘walk-in’ service. On the DVLA’s V765 list of clubs, around 25% of club signatories don’t declare an email address. In one historic vehicle club, only just over 50% of members declare an email address. It is likely that if someone is not familiar with using email, they would struggle with using a keyboard and mouse for an on-line application. DVLA appear to be suggesting that electronic transactions should be used instead of a paper based transaction. Although a high proportion of transactions will be electronic, seeing that a significant minority of individuals are unfamiliar with the technology it is suggested that some kind of paper based transaction needs to remain as a plan B option.
From a DVLA standpoint the number of registration or taxation class changes which relate to historic vehicle is comparatively low. It would not be surprising if some, or all, of these transactions remain paper based.
