Could someone enlighten me if this is correct?
As it seems somewhat of a grey area.
As Im thinking of a 7.5 recovery truck, but Id like to be 100% sure of the facts.
Ive spoken to a few people and been on the AVRO site but Im still some what confused, so any comments would be very welcome.
A 7.5 tonne on recovery tax (Dont know if this is cheaper) not run on tacho ? no O licence ? but restricted to 100Km…
That’s under domestic rules isn’t it? In which case it doesn’t matter what weight it’ll be running at.
What you planning on recovering? Flatbed or suspended tow?
Depends 
Recovering a vehicle to either : place of safety, place of repair, place of storage or place of disposal is OK, it’s also OK to do any combination of these : ie. day 1 recover vehicle to place of storage, day 2 recover vehicle to place of repair. Or, day 1 recover vehicle to place of storage, day 2 recover to place of repair, day 3 recover to place of disposal etc . . .
You need to be able demonstrate that you are actually “recovering” & not “transporting” the vehicle, or exempt from all the BS by transporting your own private vehicle, aka race/rally/show car etc . . .
It’s NOT OK if you want to pay Joe Public £20 for his MOT failure & weigh it in for £200 down the scrappy. It’s NOT OK if you want to pick up Honest John’s latest purchase from the auctions.
You might think you can fool them for some of the time, but the established recovery Co’s in your area will put pressure on parts of you that you didn’t know existed.
Recovery vehicles of any weight are exempt from operator licensing. But you will need to apply to your nearest Vehicle Registration Office for a licence to work as a recovery operator.
mike68:
Recovery vehicles of any weight are exempt from operator licensing.
What is a recovery vehicle?
If I buy a Transit chassis, weld on an angle iron & chequer plate Beaver tailed bed with a 3ton winch, does it then become a recovery truck?
Is it OK for me to scour the neighbourhood picking up scrap metal on recovery tax?
VOSA have their own definition of what is a recovery truck, in my days on recovery that definition used to change with the wind. But legally, there is no definition as such, except that the truck has to be used for recovery & not transport.
If you wish to enjoy no ‘O’ licence, cheap recovery tax & run with no tacho, then you better make sure you run it as a recovery truck. Trust me, they will shut you down.
mike68:
Recovery vehicles of any weight are exempt from operator licensing. But you will need to apply to your nearest Vehicle Registration Office for a licence to work as a recovery operator.
Now I know that you’re making it up 
I turn up at your car that has broken down on the side of the road. In recover you/your car to home address or other destination. that is recovery.
On the way to your house, you say to me…I am going to scrap the car. Can you get rid of it for me?..
As soon as you got out of the recovery truck, the car becomes a scrap vehicle. Scrap vehicle is classified as GOODS so you now need to have O licence.
Car with no tax mot or insurance is not a “broken down” vehicle so will need O licence as is GOODS
SWEDISH BLUE:
I turn up at your car that has broken down on the side of the road. In recover you/your car to home address or other destination. that is recovery.
On the way to your house, you say to me…I am going to scrap the car. Can you get rid of it for me?..
As soon as you got out of the recovery truck, the car becomes a scrap vehicle. Scrap vehicle is classified as GOODS so you now need to have O licence.
Car with no tax mot or insurance is not a “broken down” vehicle so will need O licence as is GOODS
Not true, you’re making it up !
I spent half of my days on recovery moving vehicles into the scrap yard.
“To a place of disposal” is a part of recovery if you can show that the vehicle is in a process of being ‘recovered’.
I had a contract with a Co’ called Mondial who administered the recovery of vehicles within the warranty period for several vehicle manufacturers. If your brand new sparkly Mercedes Benz spluttered to a halt on my patch, Mondial would pass it on to me. Sometimes it went straight to the dealers, sometimes it went to the customers home, sometimes it came back to my yard & went to the dealers when they were open.
It was OK for me to move the vehicle from the customers home or my yard to the dealers because this is still a part of the recovery. It was NOT OK for me to approach the dealers for a contract to collect & return their customers vehicles, this is called ‘transport’.
It’s not a grey area if you understand the concept. Transport & recovery are very very differant. Only gets confusing if you wish to enjoy the relaxed cost of running a recovery vehicle against running a transport one.
Seem to recall Cieranc, who works recovery, said the o-licence recovery exemption is ending as a crackdown on rogue operators but sure he will clarify when he pops by.
Chas:
SWEDISH BLUE:
I turn up at your car that has broken down on the side of the road. In recover you/your car to home address or other destination. that is recovery.
On the way to your house, you say to me…I am going to scrap the car. Can you get rid of it for me?..
As soon as you got out of the recovery truck, the car becomes a scrap vehicle. Scrap vehicle is classified as GOODS so you now need to have O licence.
Car with no tax mot or insurance is not a “broken down” vehicle so will need O licence as is GOODSNot true, you’re making it up !
I spent half of my days on recovery moving vehicles into the scrap yard.
“To a place of disposal” is a part of recovery if you can show that the vehicle is in a process of being ‘recovered’.
I had a contract with a Co’ called Mondial who administered the recovery of vehicles within the warranty period for several vehicle manufacturers. If your brand new sparkly Mercedes Benz spluttered to a halt on my patch, Mondial would pass it on to me. Sometimes it went straight to the dealers, sometimes it went to the customers home, sometimes it came back to my yard & went to the dealers when they were open.
It was OK for me to move the vehicle from the customers home or my yard to the dealers because this is still a part of the recovery. It was NOT OK for me to approach the dealers for a contract to collect & return their customers vehicles, this is called ‘transport’.
It’s not a grey area if you understand the concept. Transport & recovery are very very differant. Only gets confusing if you wish to enjoy the relaxed cost of running a recovery vehicle against running a transport one.
OK So I am making it up. Good call. I have only been doing Breakdown /Recovery for 41 years and I am not going to get in a slanging match over this topic. this is how I understand the rules
It was NOT OK for me to approach the dealers for a contract to collect & return their customers vehicles, this is called ‘transport’.
You were Transporting a vehicle that was " broken down", therefore it would be classified as Goods.
SWEDISH BLUE:
OK So I am making it up. Good call. I have only been doing Breakdown /Recovery for 41 years and I am not going to get in a slanging match over this topic. this is how I understand the rules
If you’ve been doing it 41yrs then you’d know that there are very few ‘firm’ rules when it comes to recovery, which is where the problem lies.
If you recover me, broken down at the roadside, you can take me home on day 1, on day 2 it’s OK for you to pick up my car from my home & take it to a garage.
In 41yrs you’ve never done this? Or is your truck taxed as a Goods Vehicle & you have an ‘O’ licence?
The vehicle is still “broken down” on day 2. After it has been to the “garage” for assessment and you are told it is “beyond economic repair” if you require it to be taken for scrap, then it becomes a “scrap vehicle” which is Goods
SWEDISH BLUE:
The vehicle is still “broken down” on day 2. After it has been to the “garage” for assessment and you are told it is “beyond economic repair” if you require it to be taken for scrap, then it becomes a “scrap vehicle” which is Goods
I beg to differ.
If I recover a vehicle from an RTA, store it in my yard, it is inspected by the insurance assessor, it is written off & the owner is payed off.
Do I break the law if I move that vehicle to a salvage auction or scrap yard?
If I recover a vehicle from an RTA on a Sunday on behalf of the RAC to their members home, can I not pick it up on Monday & move it to a place of repair in my recovery vehicle?
If it’s written off at that place of repair, can I not then pick it up & move it to a scrap yard?
Either you haven’t been doing recovery for 41yrs, you’ve been doing a very narrow part of it, or I’m in serious trouble for doing all of this & more.
Here’s a good one to test your 41yrs of knowledge. Why shouldn’t you use your beacons once you’re moving when towing a vehicle on a spec lift?
This one always sorts the one’s who know from the wannabee’s
Now come along gents, lets break this mother down:
For a start, lets have a look at The Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 (as ammended), Schedule 1, Part 5, paragraphs 2 onwards 
Ok Ok so I’ll save you the trouble:
(2)In sub-paragraph (1) “recovery vehicle” means a vehicle which is constructed or permanently adapted primarily for any one or more of the purposes of lifting, towing and transporting a disabled vehicle.
(3)A vehicle is not a recovery vehicle if at any time it is used for a purpose other than–
(a)the recovery of a disabled vehicle,
(b)the removal of a disabled vehicle from the place where it became disabled to premises at which it is to be repaired or scrapped,
(c)the removal of a disabled vehicle from premises to which it was taken for repair to other premises at which it is to be repaired or scrapped,
(d)carrying fuel and other liquids required for its propulsion and tools and other articles required for the operation of, or in connection with, apparatus designed to lift, tow or transport a disabled vehicle, and
(e)any purpose prescribed for the purposes of this sub-paragraph by regulations made by the Secretary of State.
Own Account Driver, it’s the MoT exemptions that’s being ended for recovery, and rightly so in my opinion. For too long rogue traders have been operating un-roadworthy vehicles on the guise that ‘they’re test exempt’. Well no more.
There’s a push from the ERRI group, a self-appointed industry action group, to put the recovery industry onto an ‘R licence’, some kind of voluntary O licence. Utter knackers the idea is. Recovery needs to work 24 hours a day, there’s no way whatsoever of planning the workload. O licence on recovery just cannot work.
Chas, is the answer ‘Because there’s no bloody need for them to be on, it’s just a truck towing a trailer’ 
Grumbo - As the other commentators have pointed out, historically there’s been a massive grey area when it comes to what is and isn’t recovery. Because of this, some operators have been able to flourish by operating on the fringes of the law.
BUT… between the industry trade associations (AVRO, IVR, RRRA etc), VOSA and the police, there’s a much better understanding of things emerging. These are exciting times if you’re into rules and regulations.
VOSA have recently announced that they’re producing an operating guide for recovery ops, this is expected to be published before christmas. When this guide comes out, it’ll be used by VOSA roadside types and police nationwide for enforcing infringements.
This (to my mind) is a good thing. 1, it will eliminate a lot of the grey areas, so we’ll all be singing from the same song sheet, we’ll see exactly what VOSA think about different things and 2, it’ll force a lot of rogue traders who’ve manipulated the grey areas for so long to either get legal or get out.
We work so hard to do things by the book, it’s so frustrating to lose a job to someone we KNOW is doing things illegally.
Back to your 7.5 tonner. If you tax it as recovery you can only do recovery. You cannot take out a courtesy car (even if you’re picking up the casualty vehicle in the same trip) or do anything that constitutes haulage. That includes moving pallets/garage equipment/anything other than a casualty vehicle.
As said above you can move a vehicle from one place to a place to be scrapped but only if the second movement to the scrapyard is part of the original job. Examples:
Of course, this is merely my understanding
What is it exactly you’re planning to do?
As a one-man band you’ll have a massive struggle to get club work, you’ll need PAS43 accreditation, ISO9001 accreditation, all your training (IVR modules) etc. IF you do manage to get the club work, yu’ll find the rates aren’t all that. Most rates havn’t increased in the last 6 years. But the price of diesel has.
For doing bodyshop work you will deffo need an O licence as you’ll be moving courtesy cars regulary.
For backstreet garage wor you’ll be competeing with Billy Beavertail in his Transit. You can’t operate a 7.5 tonner legally and compete with them lads, you just can’t. Up here they’re doing jobs for £15 a pop.
For collecting scrap you’ll need O licence. Moving scrap doesn’t constitute recovery.
Give us an idea of your plan and we’ll advise accordingly 
Also if you’re out in the sticks everyone either knows someone or someone who knows someone that’s got an Ifor Williams flatbed with ramps when they need a vehicle shifting.
Seem to think an AA driver told me they run their 7.5t (only they’re more than that more like 10 or even 13) on an o-licence even though they don’t need to but it shows the authorities they keep their nose-clean, bet any of their drivers that fancied topping up with some agency at weekends were a bit cheesed.
(I knew there was some sort of change to recovery exemptions mentioned but have enough of a job remembering the things that do directly affect me)
Just wanted to know the legal side of things with these 7.5 s running without an O licence…
I too have heard about this R licence thing and it dosent seem a bad idea if it gets rid of some of the transits with no MOT.
Theres plenty around here under cuting anyone who wants to make a living at it…(South London and Surrey)
Ive done plenty of recovery ,mainly on spec lifts and been on the Police contract on the M25 , but pulled out of that when things started to change and make it very hard for the small firms…
been tempted with the 6.5 tonne specs but feel the tilt and slide is the only way to go…As the cars and vans are getting heavier,
it makes the 3.5s neon useless to carry much legally.
Running a canter at the moment and did think about uprating it , but then in my wisdom the O licence thing came up + my truck wont go in the LEZ…
Thanks for the replys.
CIERANC
Thanks I could not be bothered to look for the regulations. steve
Perhaps I have been doing this for a little while then
Too many people try to ‘get away’ with recovery and I can tell you if you use a 7.5 tonner you’ll have to learn all the routes to avoid VOSA checkpoints as they love a 7.5 ton recovery truck. I’m T/M at a large bodyshop who run two recovery trucks (obviously) on a full ‘O’ licence, we now run a pair of 12 ton trucks and have just sold this (our last) 7 1/2 tonner;
My advice is look carefully into what you can & can’t do as you’ll find yourself sat at the side of the road explaining yourself to a VOSTAPPO agent who will have heard every story in the book.
Ross.
PS, VOSA often sit outside Nortons scrap depot on the dock road in Liverpool checking everyone in the queue for the weighbridge!!
I remember 1 multi-agency check point I did. They were all there, Police, VOSA, Inland Revenue, Customs & Excise, DWP etc.
They were targeting small business vans, checking they were roadworthy, correctly insured, not claiming dole, running on red etc.
I was struggling to keep up, IIRC they seized 14 vans in 3hrs from that 1 check point. A blooming good earner for me
When they decided to call it a day & wrap up I’d got 1 panel van on the bed & 1 car derived on the spec lift, the VOSA bod wandered over to me & started giving MY truck a going over.
Apparently this is not recovery, he was threatening to nick me for no ‘O’ licence, no tacho records & not being an LGV1 licence holder
I was begging him, literally begging him to nick me & have it all sorted out in court.