Re: SER1 UK taxation classes

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There were all sorts of rules that applied and I cannot remember which did and
when, so this reply may be a bit of a mixture through the ages.  The tax
payable (and the insurance) was quite a bit less, it is still in theory
possible to tax certain vehicles as tractors and in theory a land rover could
come into that category.  I had for some years an ex-military Unimog which was
genuinely used as a farm vehicle and taxed at about 10% as a tractor.  The
sixteen year old bit is again in theory possible but the usual L plates have
to be shown when necessary and when there is a second seat available I think
it had to be occupied by a qualified person.

Now for the downside.  I think that it was necessary to be able to show that
you were involved in farming / forestry and that the person driving was also
employed in that area.  The final criteria that I can remember was that you
were only allowed to use the "tractor" within a 12 or 15 mile radius of your
farm (This still applies to red diesel users today I think) and I can remember
when it was not unusual for farmers to be stopped and warned if they were
outside their area, because the police tended to know most of the farmers by
sight.

There was another type of license which was a "restricted" one.  This allowed
you to drive a very small number of miles per month on a public road and cost
nothing.  I had a land rover on this in the 1970's but it was so restrictive
that I gave up very quickly. It was something like a max of 5 miles per day
and that only twice in a week. Insurance was no cheaper.

Tom C.

Ian Stuart wrote:

> Mark Strangways wrote:
> > Hi All,
> >
> > Sorry, this is mainly for UK listers, but does anyone know anything
> > about early taxation classes for vehicles? I have just got photo copies
> > of the Log Books for my 2A back from the DVLC, and for a number of years
> > it seems as though it was taxed as 'Farmers class'. I presume this was a
> > special class for farm vehicles, but would it have meant that it was
> > like a tractor, and therefore 16 year olds could have driven it etc? I
> > presume too that it would have cost less than other classes, knowing how
> > 'careful' farmers are with their money!
> I don't know about the "farmers class", however I'm fairly sure that
> there are various limits as to what farm vehicles are allowed to do -
> probably including a top speed, requiring a [working] amber beacon, no
> motorway use, and so on - mind you, they can also use red diesel ;-)
>
> --
>
>  Ian Stuart: Code Gorilla, Perl Laghu, & Land Rover fettler
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