Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999

Part IIIArticulated Vehicles

7.—(1) The motor vehicle comprised in the articulated vehicle must be being used for the conveyance of a loading unit as part of a combined transport operation, the loading unit being on a journey—

(a)to a railhead from which the loading unit is, as part of the operation, to be transported in a relevant manner by railway pursuant to a relevant contract made before the journey began; or

(b)from a railhead to which the loading unit has, as part of the operation, been transported in a relevant manner by railway; or

(c)to a harbour from which the relevant receptacle is, as part of the operation, to be transported by sea pursuant to a relevant contract made before the journey began; or

(d)from a harbour to which the relevant receptacle has, as part of the operation,been transported by sea.

(2) If the loading unit is a bi-modal vehicle, the semi-trailer comprised in the articulated vehicle must be the bi-modal vehicle in its semi-trailer mode.

(3) If the loading unit is a relevant receptacle, the relevant receptacle must be being carried on the semi-trailer comprised in the articulated vehicle.

(4) There must be carried in the cab of the motor vehicle a document or documents—

(a)if the vehicle is on a journey to a railhead, specifying the railhead, the date the contract was made and the parties thereto;

(b)if the vehicle is on a journey from a railhead, specifying the railhead and the date and time at which the loading unit was collected from that railhead;

(c)if the vehicle is on a journey to a harbour, specifying the harbour, the date the relevant contract was made and the parties thereto; and

(d)if the vehicle is on a journey from a harbour, specifying the harbour and the date and time at which the receptacles were collected from that harbour.

8.  The following conditions must be satisfied in relation to the motor vehicle, namely—

(a)it complies with the relevant braking requirements;

(b)it has at least three axles;

(c)every driving axle not being a steering axle is fitted with twin tyres; and

(d)either every driving axle is fitted with road friendly suspension or no axle has an axle weight exceeding 8,500 kg.

9.—(1) The articulated vehicle must have a maximum of at least 6 axles.

(2) The laden weight of the articulated vehicle must not exceed the weight determined in accordance with sub-paragraph (3).

(3) The weight for the purposes of sub-paragraph (2) is the number of kilograms equal to the product of the distance measured in metres between the king-pin and the centre of the rearmost axle of the semi-trailer multiplied by 5500 and rounded up to the nearest 10 kg, if that number is less than 44,000 kg.