Gross Vehicle Weight and avoiding London Low Emission Zone

[cherrydocs]

My mate has recently imported and registered at lovely T3 Multivan with a B3 Pasatt 1.9 Turbo Diesel engine. He lives within the London LEZ, and TFL have been in touch with him asking for £100 every time he drives it as they reckon that the gross vehicle weight of a German spec T3 is 2600kg. I've looked in my T25 (UK) handbook and all variants (van/pick-up/camper etc) do not have a GVW in excess of 2460kg meaning that if diesel, they would be exempt from the London Low Emission Zone charge. Anyway TFL have said that he needs to prove that Gross Vehicle Weight is less than 2500kg by November 2nd for them to grant him exemption, and it needs to be official/in writing. Does anyone have any experience of importing a diesel van from Europe and using it without charge or penalty in the LEZ, or have any ideas on how he could get evidence to show that his GVW is less than 2500kg?

[lloydy]

For a start a multivan is a mpv and should be down as such on the log book. If you correct that, then the lez doesn't matter as its only for vans and the like.
As for his weight, it will say it on the vin plate on the offside A pillar. Just photo it and send it to them. But I would really get the vehicle type changed on the log book.

[cherrydocs]

Thanks for responding, hadn't thought of the MPV angle - he registered the body type as motor caravan when applying for a log book so can hopefully alter that via the DVLA without too much difficulty. Unfortunately there is no VIN plate attached to the van to photograph! Any ideas on how he could give TFL evidence that a Multivan is an MPV? Is it specified anywhere, or simply that is has more than 5 seats?

[lloydy]

Don't involve the LEZ, do it through DVLA. Send them some photos of the interior showing no fixed kitchen and they will change it. That will then update the LEZ database.

[cherrydocs]

What you say makes complete sense - thanks again for helping, my mate reckons TFL have been pretty difficult to deal with so far but DVLA have been helpful. Just wanted to check - Nechtic - that means kitchen equipment right? (cooker/sink etc).

[lloydy]

yep, you have to have a fixed unit with sink etc. I have a multivan myself, and live in the LEZ. Mine came with a pop top from the factory, and i do have it registered as a motorhome. But i can prove my weight and have done. . But if i tried to register it now as a motorhome i wouldn't be allowed due to no sink etc.

[cherrydocs]

OK, it doesn't look like he should have registered it as a motor caravan then. So am I correct in thinking that your multivan is a diesel, and is registered as an MPV meaning its exempt from the LEZ charge? Also how did you prove the weight and what does is weigh in at?

[lloydy]

mine is registered as a motorhome, i could prove weight as i still have the vin plate stating 2500kg (mines a syncro) Yes i am diesel. At some stage in the not too distant future i reckon the lez will change the restrictions to cover motorhomes below 2500kg. i will then change it to a mpv.

[cherrydocs]

He's just contacted the DVLA and they are saying that they can't see any MPV class or MPV body type? Perhaps he's just got through to someone who doesn't know what they're talking about. He's worried that if he doesn't get it sorted before 2/11/15, then he's going to get a fine from TFL and have imported a multivan that he cant use! Can anyone confirm for logbook purposes, are we still talking Private Light Goods classification with a bodytype of MPV - or should it be written as MPV as the taxation class on the logbook, if so what should the bodytype be to avoid the LEZ charge?

[lloydy]

basically you want to register it as a car, because thats what a multivan is.

[ajsimmo]

I had a similar situation with a London customer who had bought a diesel Gipsy. They got loads of £100 notices (amounting to nearly £2k - apparently DVLA hadn't updated the new keeper details), because TfL had it down as 2600kg GVW.
It then came to me for a Gti engine conversion, to make it petrol and therefore avoid the LEZ charge. It would have been a great vehicle once Gti'd up, but I thought it a bit daft and unfair that they were being forced into this when other diesel Gipsys were plated at 2495kg and therefore were exempt from LEZ.
I had the vehicle, and the donor Golf, in the workshop ready to get stuck in, but before I started I thought I'd just ring TfL myself and ask the following question:
"Is there any reason I can't just replate the vehicle at a lower maximum weight to make it exempt from the charge?"
and the answer was "No, there is no reason why you cannot do that. All we would need is the exemption application form and a photograph of the new VIN plate securely and permanently attached to the vehicle."
So I got a blank VIN plate online, took it to a local engraver and had all the details from the original plate duplicated, except for changing the Gross Vehicle Weight to 2495kg. I riveted it onto the inside bottom of the door, facing into the stepwell, and covered the original plate with tape (I didn't want to remove it and spoil the originality - I thought that would look dodgy to future potential buyers!).
Photo and form were sent off and I received confirmation within the week that the vehicle was now exempt.
Thousands saved for the delighted customer, and I got a Golf out of it!

[cherrydocs]

Thanks to you both for your posts - you've cheered my mate up no end! He's got the back-up option of re-plating the vehicle to fall back on if the change of body type to MPV on the log book doesn't work out. Regarding the DVLA not recognising MPV as a body type when my mate contacted them, I've looked at the DVLA guidance notes for registering a motor vehicle (form V355 - available on-line) and can see that MPV is a code 19 within the PLG taxation class - perhaps I should get a job there! Anyway, thanks again, your insight on the subject has been really helpful.

[busbuddy]

what did the original german paperwork that was sent to the dvla state as gvw? they should have sent a part of it back

having the upgrade to 2600 gvw is a bit of an odd one for a multivan, its ok for a gipsy where you need the extra carrying capacity (my cheetah is 2600 gvw but i wont be going to london)


all that 'german spec T3' stuff from the tfl is garbage, the 2600 gvw is an aftermarket upgrade along with a 2800 gvw upgrade

[cherrydocs]

He actually got the van in Poland - the Polish log book said 2550kg I think. He has been in touch with VW Germany for clarification as none of the UK specs appear to exceed 2460kg - the VW archive department in Germany stated a GVW of 2600kg. He had the multivan weighed at the weekend - it was 1720kg. To both of us the theoretical GVW appears to be academic in that he'll never carry much more than a few passengers and a bit of kit, and that kind of payload isn't going to weigh more than 780kg and take it over the maximum GVW for the London LEZ. The way I understand it now is that if he gets a new VIN plate made up stating a lower GVW than the max allowable by TFL (less than 2500kg), then he just needs to make sure he doesn't load his van up and exceed what he has stated will be the maximum - and the only way to get caught out is to actually overload it, get a pull, and get escorted to a weigh bridge!

[busbuddy]

yeah replate is the easy option, just wondered if it was a dvla paperwork issue that caused the problem in the first place but obviously not



2600kg for a multivan...........first owners must have packed a lot for a day trip