Telehandler Driving Age on Road: 17 or 18

[Robert]

I am getting mixed messages from the DVLA who seem to be struggling to interpret their own rules. Please can someone definitively tell me whether a 17 year old is allowed to drive an agricultural telehandler on the road? Thanks

 

[Pingu]

21 if over 7.5ton as it’s a self propelled agricultural vehicle that isn’t a tractor! That’s what was told on VOSA and a traffic officer once

 

[youngscot]

I was led to believe it’s 21...same as combine/self propelled sprayer, falls under car licence aswel I think.

 

[Gav]

21 if over 7.5ton as it’s a self propelled agricultural vehicle that isn’t a tractor! That’s what was told on VOSA and a traffic officer once

Anyone would think you’d been on one of our training courses.....

At 17 it has to be no more than 3.5t and need a car licence

At 18 can go up to 7.5t

At 21 all weight restrictions are lifted.

 

[onesiedale]

So long as the telehandler driver has a telehandler certificate as well as a driving license to be on the road and it is only agricultural not construction or contracting , then 17 yr old should be ok.
That's how interpreted the rules.

 

[Gav]

What I put above comes out of our forklift operators code book that we give to trainees on courses, yes I’m a forklift instructor for my sins along with many other things, but that’s what was sorted between the accreditation bodies and dvla/dvsa

 

[texelburger]

So can a 16 year old driver take a tractor and trailer (any weight) on the road if he has passed his tractor test as long as it doesn't exceed 2,45 m in width ?

 

[Andrew]

So can a 16 year old driver take a tractor and trailer (any weight) on the road if he has passed his tractor test as long as it doesn't exceed 2,45 m in width ?

No. There are rule regarding axle spacings etc on trailer.

 

[Badshot]

So long as the telehandler driver has a telehandler certificate as well as a driving license to be on the road and it is only agricultural not construction or contracting , then 17 yr old should be ok.
That's how interpreted the rules.

As its a grey area I think someone from nfu or similar should clarify.
@Simon Chiles had quite an input into some tractor regs on the road I believe.

 

[Hard Graft]

some telehandlers are tractors in the log book as it means they can tow on the road.

 

[Exfarmer]

I am getting mixed messages from the DVLA who seem to be struggling to interpret their own rules. Please can someone definitively tell me whether a 17 year old is allowed to drive an agricultural telehandler on the road? Thanks

The telehandler ceetificate has absolutely no bearing on the road , it is 17 for a machine up to 3.5 tonne ( not many, if any ) 18 for vehicles up to 7.5 tonne, ( most ) 21 over this. You cannot carry a load on the road .

 

[Simon Chiles]

I am getting mixed messages from the DVLA who seem to be struggling to interpret their own rules. Please can someone definitively tell me whether a 17 year old is allowed to drive an agricultural telehandler on the road? Thanks

As its a grey area I think someone from nfu or similar should clarify.
@Simon Chiles had quite an input into some tractor regs on the road I believe.

@Exfarmer is right, the telehandler certificate makes no difference to who is allowed to drive one on the road. Telehandlers are driven on a cat B license so the driver needs to have passed a car test, then it up to 3.5 tonnes for 17 year olds, up to 7.5 tonnes for 18 year olds and only over 7.5 tonnes if you are over 21. I think you’d have to have a cat B+E if you were towing a trailer over 750kgs with a handler, certainly you need a B+E for a combine ( cat B) and header trailer.
Reg 50 paragraph 1(a) and Reg 51 paragraph f of the motor vehicle ( driving licenses ) Regs 1999 exempt Ag motor vehicles from the need to have a cat C or C1 license.

 

[Simon Chiles]

So can a 16 year old driver take a tractor and trailer (any weight) on the road if he has passed his tractor test as long as it doesn't exceed 2,45 m in width ?

No. A 16 year old is also limited to either a single or close coupled tandem axle trailer. Close coupled basically limits the tyre size ( think Ifor Williams* type trailers ) and therefore the weight.
* other trailers from different manufacturers are also available.

 

[Simon Chiles]

some telehandlers are tractors in the log book as it means they can tow on the road.

Most telehandlers are Agricultural motor vehicles, it would have to be classed as an agricultural or forestry tractor to be driven on a cat f.

 

[Andrew]

@Exfarmer is right, the telehandler certificate makes no difference to who is allowed to drive one on the road. Telehandlers are driven on a cat B license so the driver needs to have passed a car test, then it up to 3.5 tonnes for 17 year olds, up to 7.5 tonnes for 18 year olds and only over 7.5 tonnes if you are over 21. I think you’d have to have a cat B+E if you were towing a trailer over 750kgs with a handler, certainly you need a B+E for a combine ( cat B) and header trailer.
Reg 50 paragraph 1(a) and Reg 51 paragraph f of the motor vehicle ( driving licenses ) Regs 1999 exempt Ag motor vehicles from the need to have a cat C or C1 license.

From gov.uk:

Category BE
You can drive a vehicle with a MAM of 3,500kg with a trailer.

The size of the trailer depends on the BE ‘valid from’ date shown on your licence. If the date is:

• before 19 January 2013, you can tow any size trailer
• on or after 19 January 2013, you can tow a trailer with a MAM of up to 3,500kg

But a telehandler will have a MAM of more than 3500kg? And what about the 3500kg limit for trailers for anyone taking B and E after Jan 2013?

 

[Simon Chiles]

@Exfarmer is right, the telehandler certificate makes no difference to who is allowed to drive one on the road. Telehandlers are driven on a cat B license so the driver needs to have passed a car test, then it up to 3.5 tonnes for 17 year olds, up to 7.5 tonnes for 18 year olds and only over 7.5 tonnes if you are over 21. I think you’d have to have a cat B+E if you were towing a trailer over 750kgs with a handler, certainly you need a B+E for a combine ( cat B) and header trailer.
Reg 50 paragraph 1(a) and Reg 51 paragraph f of the motor vehicle ( driving licenses ) Regs 1999 exempt Ag motor vehicles from the need to have a cat C or C1 license.

From gov.uk:

Category BE
You can drive a vehicle with a MAM of 3,500kg with a trailer.

The size of the trailer depends on the BE ‘valid from’ date shown on your licence. If the date is:

• before 19 January 2013, you can tow any size trailer
• on or after 19 January 2013, you can tow a trailer with a MAM of up to 3,500kg

But a telehandler will have a MAM of more than 3500kg? And what about the 3500kg limit for trailers for anyone taking B and E after Jan 2013?

The last paragraph of my post is the part of the regulations that exempt a driver of an agricultural motor vehicle from needing a cat C or C1 license which is what you’d need otherwise for a trailer over 3.5 tonnes if you passed your B+E after 19/1/13.

 

[Exfarmer]

@Exfarmer is right, the telehandler certificate makes no difference to who is allowed to drive one on the road. Telehandlers are driven on a cat B license so the driver needs to have passed a car test, then it up to 3.5 tonnes for 17 year olds, up to 7.5 tonnes for 18 year olds and only over 7.5 tonnes if you are over 21. I think you’d have to have a cat B+E if you were towing a trailer over 750kgs with a handler, certainly you need a B+E for a combine ( cat B) and header trailer.
Reg 50 paragraph 1(a) and Reg 51 paragraph f of the motor vehicle ( driving licenses ) Regs 1999 exempt Ag motor vehicles from the need to have a cat C or C1 license.

Does a header trailer count as a trailer? used to be termed a tender and as such counts as part of the towing vegicle. For this reason they did not need brakes, when towed by a combine.
Not suggesting full brakes etc for them is nor a good idea.

 

[Andrew]

The last paragraph of my post is the part of the regulations that exempt a driver of an agricultural motor vehicle from needing a cat C or C1 license which is what you’d need otherwise for a trailer over 3.5 tonnes if you passed your B+E after 19/1/13.

But if someone passed their trailer test after 2013, and towed a 4t trailer behind a handler, would they not be overweight on the B+E? license? If they are exempted from the C / C+E etc, does it not exempt you from the B+E too?

 

[Simon Chiles]

Does a header trailer count as a trailer? used to be termed a tender and as such counts as part of the towing vegicle. For this reason they did not need brakes, when towed by a combine.
Not suggesting full brakes etc for them is nor a good idea.

The technical term is ATAC ( Agricultural trailed appliance conveyor ) but to be classed as such the header trailer needs to weigh less than 510kg, if it’s over that ( and quite honestly most are nowadays ) then it becomes a trailer and therefore needs brakes etc.

 

[betweenthelines]

TBH if you are getting mixed messages from DVLA, I wouldn't ask on here as, if you/driver gets stopped, the defence of "this guy on TFF said" is just the modern version of "this guy in the pub"

Get a written reply from DVLA and abide by it.