Touring in Splitter Vans: do they require tachographs and operator licenses?
There has been a good deal of confusion recently about the question of whether splitter vans need to be used with an Operators Licence and a tachograph when travelling in Europe. Let’s clear this up.The short answer for most people who use splitter vans to tour is that they don’t.
Why is there confusion then?
Well… when that ‘wonderful’ document the Trade & Cooperation Agreement between the UK and EU (the Brexit deal) came into force it brought with it a requirement that from mid-2023 vans with a maximum authorised mass of over 2,500kg used for transporting goods for hire or reward in the EU would need to do so with a tachograph in use and under the umbrella of an International Operator License (prior to this the same requirement had been in place for vehicles with maximum authorised mass of over 3,500kg).
Most splitter vans that bands and artists use to tour in tend to have a maximum authorised mass of 3,500kgs and as a result there has been a good deal of anxiety about the impact of this legal change.
The key here is understanding what is meant by “hire or reward”. Hire or reward means that you are carrying goods for, or on behalf of, someone else. It generally applies if you are paid to move other people’s goods. If, like most touring artists, you are only moving your own goods for your own purposes (playing shows), this would not be classed as hire or reward and therefore a tachograph and International Operator License is not required.
But what if you are a tour manager or member of touring crew paid by an artist to drive a splitter van? Here too, no Operator License or tachograph is needed because it falls under the definition of ‘Own Account’ use, which EU Regulation 1072/2009 defines as:
- the goods carried are the property of the undertaking or have been sold, bought, let out on hire or hired, produced, extracted, processed or repaired by the undertaking;
- the purpose of the journey is to carry the goods to or from the undertaking or to move them, either inside or outside the undertaking for its own requirements;
- motor vehicles used for such carriage are driven by personnel employed by or put at the disposal of, the undertaking under a contractual obligation;
- the vehicles carrying the goods are owned by the undertaking, have been bought by it on deferred terms or have been hired;
- such carriage is no more than ancillary to the overall activities of the undertaking.
