Hi all....booked our old girl in yesterday...class 6 £130 !! Any comments? Regards Ian.

My bus number (if any): RM446 and RM765

PSV (class 6) test fees went up again as from 01/04/2010 as the last stage of O licence fee harmonisation with test fees and is now £135.00 for a large un-belted bus

http://online.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/openpopup?type=ONEOFFPAGE&itemId=1082500748&r.l5=1082014255&r.s=e&r.l4=1082103343&r.l1=1081597476&r.lc=en&r.l3=1082103299&r.l2=1082103262&r.i=1082015489&r.t=RESOURCES

Pre 01/04/10 test fees are listed first so scroll down for the current fees.

Class 5 fees also went up at about the same time, the difference being that these fees are the MAXIMUM that can be charged, current large unbelted class 5 max fee is £80-65

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/Mot/DG_4022514


Mark

My bus number (if any): RM1414 sort of

Hello Ian. As someone who is embarking on operating, rather than just running buses I can shed some light on this. You asked for any comments on this and what follows may seem a bit brutal. Bus operators who don't just drive their buses around but also receive hire and reward from some of their activities have all sorts of hoops to jump through to be within the law.

We have to obtain an Operator's Licence, pay Bus Tax (not zero rated Historic) of £500 a year on each vehicle and posess enough operators discs for the number of buses operated at any one time. The Passenger Tranport Operators' discs can be moved round between vehicles in the fleet. This is not the case with Commercial Vehicle Operators.

From this year the Passenger Operators' discs are free of charge, the cost is picked up on the annual test fee instead.

This means that, if you don't operate your bus for hire and reward, there is no point in having a Class 6 MOT. You would save a good deal by going for a Class 5. If you do have strong feelings about prefering a Class 6 then, as a private individual operating for social, domestic and pleasure purposes, you are paying an unecessary and voluntary surchage, in effect, a sort of vanity tax.

I know VOSA has spent a lot of effort notifying Bus Operators of the change. I suspect little thought has been given to people like you who prefer a class 6 (because that was the bus always had) rather than need one because they operate for Hire or Reward.

I hope this is clear. Having passed my CPC in Passenger Transport Operations examination quite recently these sort of facts are buzzing round my head a bit at the moment. It is all certainly much more complicated than anthing I learned in medical school!

I'm writing this from the South of France and since I now feel rather exhausted I think I'll do a few leisurely turns of the pool before lying down for a bit of a rest before dinner.

My bus number (if any): RM238, RM471 & RM2213

This also raises the ammount of revenue brought into VOSA & Enforcement.

Prior to the current system where every PSV tested bus pays 'O' licence fees within the annual test fee, smaller operators only paid 'O' disc fees on the number of discs that they had 'taken up' which in some case will be a lesser number than their licence authorisation. Generally smaller operators own more vehicles than they have discs for because of the nature of the work that they do (your tour coaches are not out at the same times as your school/contract vehicles & vice versa etc.
As Chris has said the change now has blanket coverage over any bus/coach PSV/class 6 tested.

Mark

My bus number (if any): RM1414 sort of