Exciting news from the EU

[OldCodger]

They appear to be the new rules?

The law came in 2012.

 

[jerryz]

Isnt the UK DVLA proposing removal of all entitlements for over 70s except car and Motorcycle ,, so all vans , Minibuses , Motorhomes etc would need a special exam ??? and medical

 

[barryd]

Isnt the UK DVLA proposing removal of all entitlements for over 70s except car and Motorcycle ,, so all vans , Minibuses , Motorhomes etc would need a special exam ??? and medical

Yeah that makes sense. So when I am over 70 I can belt up the M1 at 200mph on a Hayabusa but not 60 in a motorhome weighing 3.85t.

 

[jerryz]

Yeah that makes sense. So when I am over 70 I can belt up the M1 at 200mph on a Hayabusa but not 60 in a motorhome weighing 3.85t.

Barry... The Government wants us to die as soon as our state pension kicks in so they dont have to pay it and we dont need any Services and they can take our kids inheritances ,, If we live past 66 they hate us , especially if we are happy , but its our duty to live as long as possible to upset the buggers .....

 

[nicholsong]

Barry... The Government wants us to die as soon as our state pension kicks in so they dont have to pay it and we dont need any Services and they can take our kids inheritances ,, If we live past 66 they hate us , especially if we are happy , but its our duty to live as long as possible to upset the buggers .....

I delayed taking my State Pension by 6 years. I forewent some £'000s but estimated that taking the enhanced amount I would catch up the losses after near 7 years. I have now had the enhanced payments for 12 years, so the government must hate me.

I now get over £17,000pa (before April increase). I am banking on them hating me for a few more £/ years.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[BRND]

I have just received the latest Reismobil International News Email and it seems to suggest that the EU is actively pushing a revised legislation concerning the weight limit for all motor homes. It is going to lift the current weight limit of 3.5 tonnes to 4.25 tonnes. The article is giving the impression that it is imminent. (I thought of copying the article but didn't because of copyright laws) It also suggests that a practical test and or a written test might be required.
I wonder how long it will take the UK to adopt this new legislation?

I wonder if this potential change is due to the extra battery weight when electric vans are introduced?

 

[chris McKenny]

I think the weight increase is for electric vans, not fossil fueled.
Without a weight increase an electric motorhome stumbles at the first hurdle with the extra weight of batteries eating into payload.
A new/replacement licence will most likely have a code stating EVs only at 4.25t in the same way a 7.5t grandfather C1E does now

That is how I read it , for ambulances and delivery vans which due to batteries are heavier ,so can be driven by younger drivers who do not have C1 license . ,think could be a while before brought in, meanwhile Enjoy your travels

 

[Guigsy]

If Europe moves to 4.25t, that'll become the default weight they'll be built to.

If the UK remains at 3.5t and you don't have a C1 license, your choice of new vans is going to reduce.

 

[B+W vanman]

I delayed taking my State Pension by 6 years. I forewent some £'000s but estimated that taking the enhanced amount I would catch up the losses after near 7 years. I have now had the enhanced payments for 12 years, so the government must hate me.

I now get over £17,000pa (before April increase). I am banking on them hating me for a few more £/ years.

You deferred till you were 71? And are now 83?
Congratulations!

 

[stevenali]

What’s the advantage though if you have your entitlement for 7.5 tonnes?

for those of us that have medical issues in my case diabetes or over 70s it would be one less hurdle to jump over to dive a 4 ton van

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Bill-H]

Unless the UK also implement it, it's of little use to most as they won't be able to drive on UK roads to get to the ferry

 

[Luna the Magic Van]

Non not in this country anyway! As I mentioned above if they don’t increase the 3.5t threshold for speed limits and vignettes in European countries it’s absolutely no advantage for me at all!!
If they put it up to 4.25t for vignettes etc instead of having go box’s and the like I’d probably get a 4.25t van

What are “vignettes and go boxes” please?

 

[WESTY66]

What are “vignettes and go boxes” please?

I certain countries if you’re below 3.5t GVW you purchase a vignette for a short (or long) period of time, which is very easy to do, however in certain countries if you’re above 3.5t GVW you have to purchase a box of some description that you pre load with credit that fixes on the inside of the windscreen that charges you per KM on the motorways and expressways as you pass under the gantries, it bleeps every time and takes a small payment from the credit that you preloaded when when you “top up” or purchase a box, and yes there’s different box’s for different countries, and yes it’s a PIA

 

[ashley 1340]

I have just received the latest Reismobil International News Email and it seems to suggest that the EU is actively pushing a revised legislation concerning the weight limit for all motor homes. It is going to lift the current weight limit of 3.5 tonnes to 4.25 tonnes. The article is giving the impression that it is imminent. (I thought of copying the article but didn't because of copyright laws) It also suggests that a practical test and or a written test might be required.
I wonder how long it will take the UK to adopt this new legislation?

the weight limit is being raised because electric vans will be heavier, so your licence will need to be raised to continue driving them

 

[nicholsong]

What’s the advantage though if you have your entitlement for 7.5 tonnes?

Advantage is that Polish OH can drive the MH. No grandfather/mother rights in Poland.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[nicholsong]

You deferred till you were 71? And are now 83?
Congratulations!

Correct. I got an uplift of 10.4% p.a. It is now down to 5%, so not so good, but worth it if you can afford to defer.

One gets the annual 'triple-lock' increase on the uplifted amount, thus the figure I quoted, which was put in just to encourage others to think of doing it.

 

[deemac]

It’s not really the money Geoff, it’s the faff and should anything go wrong, there’s no redress 99% of the time, especially with the Austrians

I just bought an Oresund bizz pass for visiting Denmark, Norway and Sweden and they emailed me this week to say that their pass is now accepted in Austria. It costs nothing to get and was with me in 5 days. It doesn't require preloading

 

[WESTY66]

I just bought an Oresund bizz pass for visiting Denmark, Norway and Sweden and they emailed me this week to say that their pass is now accepted in Austria. It costs nothing to get and was with me in 5 days. It doesn't require preloading

Yes I stumbled across this about a month ago which is very handy

 

[nicholsong]

I just bought an Oresund bizz pass for visiting Denmark, Norway and Sweden and they emailed me this week to say that their pass is now accepted in Austria. It costs nothing to get and was with me in 5 days. It doesn't require preloading

Is that for under or over 3.5t? Does it give discount on Norwegian ferries, like some of the Norwegian passes?

 

[Joie de vivre]

Non not in this country anyway! As I mentioned above if they don’t increase the 3.5t threshold for speed limits and vignettes in European countries it’s absolutely no advantage for me at all!!
If they put it up to 4.25t for vignettes etc instead of having go box’s and the like I’d probably get a 4.25t van

Just picked up this conversation from weekly round up. Not been to any of the countries mentioned and don't understand what you mean by vignette and go boxes. Could you please explain?
We have a Globecar 6.4m uprated to 4.25t. It was a mere paper exercise for the maxi chassis van. My husband had a medical to get his license sorted as he just went 70 last year. We drove through Netherlands Germany Sweden and Norway no problem.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[WESTY66]

Just picked up this conversation from weekly round up. Not been to any of the countries mentioned and don't understand what you mean by vignette and go boxes. Could you please explain?
We have a Globecar 6.4m uprated to 4.25t. It was a mere paper exercise for the maxi chassis van. My husband had a medical to get his license sorted as he just went 70 last year. We drove through Netherlands Germany Sweden and Norway no problem.

Prob the only countries where you don’t have a problem.
France has lower speed limits for +3.5t in some places as does Germany
Austria, Slovenia, Switzerland, Hungary, Czech and a few others have box’s that you have to pre load with money (credit) and as you go down their motorways under the gantries it will keep bleeping and taking your balance down till you leave the motorway or run out of credit. Austria is probably the most expensive.
That said as you have a pvc you could take your chances with a vignette instead of the box, but if you do get caught the penalties are quite high

 

[rrowe]

But thanks to the wonders of Brexit the UK can make up their own rules and not be drven by the EVIL EU who used to pay us lots of grants for infrastructure, farming etc and allow us all to work and travel anywhere
So in return for losing all that and dropping our growth rate by 2.5% there is a tiny possibility that oldies might be allowed to drive MHs weighing up to 4.25 tonnes without having to pass an extra medical etc. The only problem being that by the time any legislation actually changes here the only vehicle that present members of this demographic will be driving will be electric wheelchairs

 

[Joie de vivre]

Prob the only countries where you don’t have a problem.
France has lower speed limits for +3.5t in some places as does Germany
Austria, Slovenia, Switzerland, Hungary, Czech and a few others have box’s that you have to pre load with money (credit) and as you go down their motorways under the gantries it will keep bleeping and taking your balance down till you leave the motorway or run out of credit. Austria is probably the most expensive.
That said as you have a pvc you could take your chances with a vignette instead of the box, but if you do get caught the penalties are quite high

Thanks for info.

 

[sedge]

I'm fairly sure the DVLA will discover a reason to prevent us lot needing insulin treatment driving things over 3500kgs, cos obviously with all the many advances in technology hopefully giving us far less chance of going suddenly hypo at the wheel with no advance warning, they probably won't trust it because Continuous Blood Glucose Monitoring doesn't directly measure blood so they'll still reckon they can't be relied upon, despite those of us using their technology to simply stay alive. They'll say it's up to us individually whether we risk our own lives relying on them but they aren't in the habit of simply trusting people.

I have no inside info - only my gut instinct, having had Type 1 diabetes now for over 50 years and knowing the ridiculous decisions taken by various quasi UK governmental concerns over that time.

 

[Tony50]

Wish I knew that the other day.

I was parked next to a Brit with a 3.5t Portuguese Motorhome. He’s struggling with payload

To be honest most of not all struggle with payload at 3.5 tonnes, if they raise 3.5 to 4.25 tonnes I doubt you would notice it, all this about medicals retraining is nonsense,
Truck drivers moved from 16 to 17 to 18 tonnes no different licence, I had a Class 1 hgv , went up to 38 tonnes , want to Sweden tested a 56 tonnes Drawbar and trailer which are far longer / heavier than anything we had , vehicle drove lovely didn't notice anything unusual about having a different weight and configuration. I think on here it's the thought of the unknown for some.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Wanders from Glos]

That is how I read it , for ambulances and delivery vans which due to batteries are heavier ,so can be driven by younger drivers who do not have C1 license . ,think could be a while before brought in, meanwhile Enjoy your travels

Currently you need a C1 to drive an ambulance. Younger paramedics have to take the additional test. Is there a plan to drop that, it would certainly help the ambulance services.

 

[CAB96]

Currently you need a C1 to drive an ambulance. Younger paramedics have to take the additional test. Is there a plan to drop that, it would certainly help the ambulance services.

Presumably the EU recognise that as a problem for the Member States as well, hence the inclusion in their proposal.

 

[Wanders from Glos]

Presumably the EU recognise that as a problem for the Member States as well, hence the inclusion in their proposal.

Perhaps, I was more thinking about the earlier suggestions of removing it in the UK. It would be helpful to ambulance services. We get a significant amount of driver training anyway.

 

[The Wino]

Currently you need a C1 to drive an ambulance. Younger paramedics have to take the additional test. Is there a plan to drop that, it would certainly help the ambulance services.

If they get extra training I would have thought that the C1 would be a piece of cake compared to the awareness required to be on blues and twos.

 

[Roby2008]

What are “vignettes and go boxes” please?

Vignettes are the toll sticker you can buy for Austria ( and other countries), usually, 10 days, a month or a year...only up to 3500kg though.(they are now digital online as well).
Over 3500kg you need a digital toll box that charges you by the km...very very pricey as you are now a Truck...

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}