Three trucks, three drivers, and the licence classes that actually cover them
A family transport firm runs three vehicles: a rigid tipper with a gross vehicle mass of 15,500 kg, a heavy trailer it tows behind the tipper with a laden mass of 6,800 kg, and a tractor unit with a semi-trailer with a gross combined mass of 39,000 kg. The firm also has a 4,500 kg trailer that can be towed behind the tipper. The staff hold: Driver A, Class 2, held four years, clean record; Driver B, Class 4, held 18 months; Driver C, Class 1 only. Driver A has never towed anything heavier than a box trailer; Driver B drives the tipper alone most days and has never driven a semi. On Friday the tipper-and-heavy-trailer unit and the semi-trailer both need to go out, and the firm's only Class 5 driver resigned on Thursday.
1. Which vehicles can each driver legally drive? Show how the class thresholds decide it.
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Driver A (Class 2) can drive the tipper alone, because 15,500 kg sits inside the 6,000–18,000 kg rigid range, and can tow the 4,500 kg trailer, because Class 2 allows a trailer up to 5,000 kg. A cannot tow the 6,800 kg trailer: the trailer breaks the 5,000 kg threshold, so that unit becomes a medium combination and needs Class 3, even though the tipper itself is a Class 2 vehicle. Driver B (Class 4) can drive the tipper and any heavy rigid, and can tow a trailer up to 5,000 kg, but a 39,000 kg semi-trailer combination is a heavy combination requiring Class 5. Driver C can drive none of them. On Friday, both the heavy-trailer unit and the semi lack a licensed driver.
2. What is the fastest legitimate way to get both units out this week?
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The legitimate route is a licence upgrade, not a 'just this once'. Driver A would progress to Class 3, which needs the prerequisite holding period, a current medical certificate, the theory test and a practical test in a suitable combination vehicle. Driver B would need Class 5, with the same requirements plus the holding period at Class 4. Neither can be completed by Friday. For this week the answer is to hire or subcontract a Class 5 driver for the semi, and either put the 6,800 kg trailer behind a Class 3 or higher driver or leave that unit parked. The 4,500 kg trailer can go out behind the tipper with Driver A immediately.
3. Driver A offers to take the heavy trailer because 'the tipper is only 15.5 tonne and I've had my Class 2 for four years'. What is the exposure if the firm agrees?
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Driving outside the class is unlicensed driving. The driver is liable for a fine and demerit points and can lose the licence, the operator can be charged for permitting it, and the insurer can decline any claim because the vehicle was not being driven by a licensed driver. If the combination crashed, the company would also be exposed under health and safety law. Four years of experience and a clean record do not move the mass thresholds; the trailer's 6,800 kg laden mass is what pushes the unit into Class 3. Inexperience towing heavy trailers is a separate reason to train before, not during, a job.