12th January 2022

Call for exemption from new transport regulation proposals

With a new bill currently in consultation on how to regulate vehicle standards in the future that includes anti-tampering laws, the Historic & Classic Vehicles Alliance (HCVA) have written a response expressing their concerns along with some requests for the Government to consider.

The ‘Future of Transport’ consultation focused on supporting the automotive industry and to ensure that transport regulations are fit for the future, with proposals to enable the Government to better prevent harmful tampering with vehicle emission control systems.

The bill would allow the Government the tools they need to regulate and control vehicle standards without having to go through the long process it does currently. While this is a good thing as it aims to make roads safer and better for everyone, the HCVA want to make sure that they don’t overlook the implications of this new bill on historic and classic vehicles. As part of their response, the HCVA have requested three things.

The first is the exclusion of historic and classic vehicles from the new rules, with the rules only applying to new cars and not cars already on the road. They have also asked that any existing garages, engineers and owners as well as businesses in the sector are exempt from a requirement to enforce the new rules on historic vehicles.

The new bill would also allow any further changes to be made in the future without official guidance or secondary legislation, meaning that a discussion in Parliament can be avoided if there are any challenges. The HVCA have asked for the classic and historic vehicle sector to be safeguarded from these powers. This would mean that any changes that may hurt classic vehicles would need to go back to Parliament for a debate and vote.

The new bill also includes proposed ban on tampering. The ban aims to make it illegal to alter cars in any way that would impact the environment, road safety or security. It’s another positive step for improving our roads but it could have some implications for classic vehicle owners too. The proposals could criminalise everything that is fitted to a vehicle after market, so the HVCA has asked that the Government consider a different way to solve the tampering issue or put in exclusions for the classic and historic vehicle sector.

The HCVA say they will continue to keep a close eye on the situation. Find out more about their response to the proposed bill on their website.

By FAR the MOST significant NEGATIVE IMPACT of. ALL TYPES. Of motor vehicles on the ENVIRONMENT is their MANUFACTURE and subsequent DISPOSAL Buying new Prius is MUCH WORSE. than running your CARED FOR CLASSIC !!! INFORM YOUR. M.P. OF THIS. ABSOLUTELY PROVEN FACT. !!!!!!

Mike, 11/03/2022

Original spare parts for many classics are either already unavailable or are becoming difficult to find. Most owners are keen on originality, but there are also many who wish to improve the car's performance in terms of brakes, suspension, engine performance. Preventing modification to historic and classic cars will result in killing them off in rapid time, depending on original spare part availability. The pragmatic approach is to exclude existing vehicles from this new legislation. Failing that, exclude all historic status vehicles.

Jaguar Rover Triumph, 24/02/2022

My family run 2 and soon to be 3 classic Minis. 2 of these are fully restored and come up to all the relevant emissions and safety standards applicable "at the time of their manufacture". They can surely not be expected to exceed these standards, and because the original manufacturer is no longer in business, spares and replacement parts will be aftermarket as a necessity. These cars are maintained regardless of cost and are driven only a few hundred miles each year. The UK has a very large classic car restoration and maintenance industry supplying high quality parts and restoration services to proud and sensible classic vehicle owners and drivers. Creating legislation to effectively price these vehicles off the road is not sensible for so many reasons and the scrapping of such vehicles and replacing them with so-called cleaner alternatives would surely create way more pollution than keeping these generally low mileage vehicles on the road. Coupled to that, what happens to all those who work in the industry?

Roxrob, 21/02/2022

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