tractors..

[doirecormac]

I absolutely hate tractors ! And the farmers who drive them on the roads....my question is - are there limits on how far a farmer can go on his tractor? Can they drive for miles to the nearest shop and on the way there and back create traffic jams? What insurance do they require? (OK - more than one question!)

[Hawkwalk]

They can drive them as far as they like as they pay road tax just like everyone else. They will also have insurance for travelling on a road the same as a car.

Farmers do a good job and we should promote british farming and be glad that someone is prepared to produce food for us all to eat.

[Buenchico]

With very few exceptions (such as the Dartford Tunnel) there are no minimum speed limits on UK roads so driving slowly (whether by choice or because of the limitations of the vehicle) is not specifically an offence.

However, there is an offence of 'driving without due consideration for other road users' so, theoretically at least, a tractor driver who failed to pull over occasionally, to allow other drivers to pass, might be deemed guilty of an offence.

All users of the public highway require third party insurance cover. However, both 'agricultural tractors' and 'off road tractors' are exempt from paying Road Fund Tax, even if they're used on the public highway. (Sorry, Hawkwalk, farmers don't pay road tax for their agricultural vehicles. This is confirmed here:
http://direct.gov.uk/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/T axationClasses/TaxationClassesArticle/fs/en?CO NTENT_ID=4022042&chk=OoLbFS )

Chris

[Hawkwalk]

and so they should't Chris, glad to here it.

[buildersmate]

How can these tractors pay road fund tax when many of the ones I see don't have a registration number - in other words they are principally used around farms but do come onto roads. Can't get road fund licence without registration number - or do different arrangements apply?

[doirecormac]

I thought the road tax exemption was the case - cheers for all the replies - I still hate farmers though - who else gets a grant for running their business - even when they are sitting on so much equity - their land !

Farms should be run like any other business and if they are in difficulty they should liquidate their assets (sell some land) and not expect other people to bail them out...

[Siamsal]

What the tractor is being used for also come into it. As mentioned above, there are exemptions for agricultural vehicles AND almost all tractors will be runing on low duty diesel (aka red diesel). However, these breaks are only for legitimate agricultural usage. Using a tractor for personal transport, or transporting goods, is (technically) illegal if it is a) registered 'on the cheap', as above and/or b) using red diesel on the road.

This is true, because someone I know was pulled up for using his tractor and trailer, on the road, for what the revenue people regarded as 'transportation'. He was carting some stone from one location to another. He had to pay - almost on the spot - �100s, or they were going to impound his tractor. (He thinks someone dobbed him in to the customs)

[Barmaid]

I quite agree, farms should be run like any other business. Also, farmers, in my view, have a moral duty to preserve the countryside and comply with good husbandry. But what other business works like farming? The Agricultural Holdings Act 1986 was implemented because of the uniqueness of the farming business. A farm cannot just spring up overnight and depends on the nurturing and care of the land over a 12 month season. A bad season means no income - not a thing you can do about the weather. If it rains all summer, well, no, you can't get your grain in and when you do (if you do), it costs you a fortune to dry it. And let's assume you have a good year. Chances are, you are selling to a supermarket who insists on paying ridiculously low prices so that they can pass on the savings to the consumer (not). And yes, when it comes to making ends meet, the only thing most farmers can do in the long run is sell their land (to a prairie farmer who rips up the hedges and changes our landscape irreparably for the worse or to a developer). Which with agricultural land making didly squat, by the time the bank and the taxman (CGT payable at 40%) have had their cut, what is there left?