Surely you wouldn’t need to take the 5th wheel off? I was told once that you could always put a metal plate or a cover over the 5th wheel and you could drive it on a Cat C license. Although I could be wrong 
Cheers
Jonny 
mcgregors shafter:
why do I get the impresion that class one meant 5th wheel special and other then that it falled into the catogry of the towing vehicleSo a 4 wheel unit with the 5th wheel off and draw bar on could of been driven on a class 3 licence
no a bus licence…but only if you have the ufo attachement and an acog sight aswell mounted ontop of a challenger tank with 2 harrier jump jets blowing the {zb} out of everything in your way
jonnytruckfest:
I was told once that you could always put a metal plate or a cover over the 5th wheel and you could drive it on a Cat C license. Although I could be wrongCheers
Jonny
You are.
well i was always told that you needed a class 1 licence to drive a tractor unit unless it couldnt pull a trailer !!
specialbru:
well i was always told that you needed a class 1 licence to drive a tractor unit unless it couldnt pull a trailer !!
whoever told you that was talking ■■■■■■■■ 
Coffeeholic:
[The removal of the 5th wheel was to enable it to be driven on an ordinary licence because it made it sn incomplete motor vehicle or something, like those mad blokes in the padded suits and crash helmets driving the coach chassis on a car licence.
Got a pic? Ta.
mrx:
Coffeeholic:
[The removal of the 5th wheel was to enable it to be driven on an ordinary licence because it made it sn incomplete motor vehicle or something, like those mad blokes in the padded suits and crash helmets driving the coach chassis on a car licence.Got a pic? Ta.
No, but they used to be s common sight on the motorway. I guess elf ‘m’ safety have put an end to it
Thought that I had a definative answer, the realised that i can’t remember if the wording was
“a goods vehicle weighing over 2 tons ULW that HAS a trailer atteached by partial superimposition”
or " a goods vehicle that CAN HAVE a trailer attached "etc etc.
The only thing I can be certain of, is that the company I worked at then would not allow class 3 drivers to touch a tractor unit at all.
But that could have been down to job description rather than the law.
gogzy:
mcgregors shafter:
why do I get the impresion that class one meant 5th wheel special and other then that it falled into the catogry of the towing vehicleSo a 4 wheel unit with the 5th wheel off and draw bar on could of been driven on a class 3 licence
no a bus licence…but only if you have the ufo attachement and an acog sight aswell mounted ontop of a challenger tank with 2 harrier jump jets blowing the {zb} out of everything in your way
that went right over my head
Harry Monk:
No, I’m not talking about driving tractor units on a Class C licence, I’m talking about driving them back in the days when we still had HGV licencing.Was it legal to drive a tractor unit with anything less than a Class 1 licence? I’m sure you could drive a two-axle unit on a Class 3 licence and a three-axle unit on a Class 2 licence but others say not, and that you needed a Class 1 licence to drive tractor unit only.
Anyone shed any light here?
The answer to that Harry is yes you could.
I decided to email the DVLA on this issue and got this reply -
Dear Mr *****
Thank you for your email received on 1/12/11. Your email reference number is 790415.
I am able to confirm that class 2 entitlement would have allowed the licence holder to have driven a rigid vehicle with draw bar trailer only.
This category would not allow the licence holder to drive an articulated unit.
Do not reply to this email. If you wish to contact us again about this response then please use our Reply Form or copy and paste the following URL in to your browser:
emaildvla.direct.gov.uk/emaildv … ivers.html
When filling in the form the email reference number 790415 will be required.
Regards
J Ellis
Customer Enquiries Group
DVLA
A tractor unit isn’t an articulated unit.
Harry Monk:
A tractor unit isn’t an articulated unit.
The question posed to the DVLA was -
Could a pre 1990 HGV class 2 licence holder drive an articulated unit when the trailer was not attached?
Harry Monk:
A tractor unit isn’t an articulated unit.
Yep, they completely missed the point of the question and have answered a different one. But, in doing so have in fact confirmed you could indeed drive a solo tractor unit on a Class 2 or 3 licence, depending on the number of axles.
Sorted, until the next time this question comes up.
The problem with emailing the DVLA about a subject which is over 11 years old is that that the person answering the question was probably too young to know what a class three or class one licence was.
They were probably only 5/6 years old!
Wheel Nut:
The problem with emailing the DVLA about a subject which is over 11 years old is that that the person answering the question was probably too young to know what a class three or class one licence was.They were probably only 5/6 years old!
Exactly. Me, you and Neil are all old enough to remember what the score was in the days of HGV licences, whereas ROG, being either a young whippersnapper or a lifelong “trainer” with no real-world experience, doesn’t.
Wheel Nut:
The problem with emailing the DVLA about a subject which is over 11 years old is that that the person answering the question was probably too young to know what a class three or class one licence was.They were probably only 5/6 years old!
Indeed. You can see they have got completely the wrong idea about the question in the last few words of the second paragraph of the reply.
The only difference between now and then is Cat C licence is for goods vehicles while the E adds all trailers and back then Class 1, 2 and 3 was for goods vehicles with 2 and 3 allowing draw-bar trailers to be pulled while 1 allowed semi-trailers.
Coffeeholic:
Indeed. You can see they have got completely the wrong idea about the question in the last few words of the second paragraph of the reply.
Either that, or every haulage company, driver and fitter in the country had it wrong.
Harry Monk:
Coffeeholic:
Indeed. You can see they have got completely the wrong idea about the question in the last few words of the second paragraph of the reply.Either that, or every haulage company, driver and fitter in the country had it wrong.
Well yes, there is that. 
Harry Monk:
Exactly. Me, you and Neil are all old enough to remember what the score was in the days of HGV licences, whereas ROG, being either a young whippersnapper or a lifelong “trainer” with no real-world experience, doesn’t.
Not a lifelong trainer - only started that in 2005
Passed HGV class 1 in 1988 but was artic and rigid yard shunting in the mid to late 70s so I’ve been around HGV drivers for quite some time