Unsure of my minibus speed limits

sevenhills

Car_54 wrote: »

But it's registered as an MPV, not as a minibus. See post #1.

Its body type is 'MPV'; it has had 8 passenger seats fitted so it became a passenger carrying vehicle, and it was taxed and insured as such.

sevenhills

unholyangel wrote: »

Its not a minibus. A minibus is a motor vehicle designed to carry 9-16 passengers (excluding the driver).
iirc the trafic is caught out as the chassis is basically a van chassis. This is why car-derived vans that don't exceed 2t laden are subject to the same speed limits as cars, because its a car chassis.

If I phoned a hire firm, I would not ask to hire a 8 seater van, I would ask for a 7 seater car or a 8 seater minibus.
Minibuses with 9-16 seats start out as vans too.

Rover_Driver

sevenhills wrote: »

Its body type is 'MPV'; it has had 8 passenger seats fitted so it became a passenger carrying vehicle.

So will have the same speed limits as a car.

Car_54

sevenhills wrote: »

Its body type is 'MPV'; it has had 8 passenger seats fitted so it became a passenger carrying vehicle, and it was taxed and insured as such.

Post #13 shows the actual V5C - it is NOT taxed as a passenger carrying vehicle, but as a car. It doesn't matter, as it's the body type (MPV) that determines speed limits, not the taxation class.

Insurance is also irrelevant. It could be insured as a flying saucer but it would make no difference to the speed limits.

Paradigm

unholyangel wrote: »

As I said, far more complex than it should be

Now that I would agree with!


I find it quite bizarre that a VW Caddy van @ 2100kg max weight is subject to the same reduced limits on single/dual carriageway roads as a 44 tonne artic yet a motorhome under 3.05 tonnes UW isn't.
It's nuts!


It all needs simplifying, something like anything under 3 tonnes UW is subject to car limits... anything over is restricted.

w06

agreed it's all a bit arbitary. my trafic was a panel van and so was subject to the lower limits, it's now a 'motor caravan' (self built camper) and subject to car limits. I can see some logic in that it's no longer a load carrying vehicle but all of it's mechanics and its momentum is still the same as it was as a panel van

unholyangel

sevenhills wrote: »

Its body type is 'MPV'; it has had 8 passenger seats fitted so it became a passenger carrying vehicle, and it was taxed and insured as such.

sevenhills wrote: »

If I phoned a hire firm, I would not ask to hire a 8 seater van, I would ask for a 7 seater car or a 8 seater minibus.
Minibuses with 9-16 seats start out as vans too.

As I said previously, all these vehicles are legally defined. What you call them when hiring them isn't going to change how they're defined in law.

In law, a passenger vehicle is one that is constructed solely for the carriage of passengers. A minibus is a motor vehicle (note its not a passenger vehicle, just motor vehicle) which has 9-16 seats in addition to the driver. Any more seats than that and it becomes a bus in law.

A motor car is also legally defined as up to 7 seats and under (might be off on this figure as I'm going off memory) 2540kg. But as I said, its not that cars actually have limits set, the limits are actually set on motor vehicles rather than motor cars. Its that the relevant authority can restrict the speed of any vehicle which fails to meet any of the 5 requirements I listed on unrestricted (ie not 30mph) roads. They choose to do that for a wide range of vehicles. Some vehicles (such as dual-purpose vehicles under 3t or car-derived vans) they choose not to restrict.

Its a mess. There doesn't seem to be any reason or logic behind it (ie based on the stopping distance of the vehicle or probability of harm).

They probably haven't sorted it because it seems to only affect a limited number of vehicles (ie 9 seaters which are built on a chassis designed for both transporting goods & passengers).