DVLA and tractor registration.

[Brian]

Now the DVLA have closed all the local licencing offices and everything has to go to Swansea, things are becoming more difficult to licence your tractor or get the original number re issued.

It seems that to get a number re issued, even if it is on the tractor, the DVLA now will not take your word that the number pertains to the tractor without documentary evidence, eg the brown log book. In the log book the registration number and the ENGINE/SERIAL NUMBER are shown together on an official document. If the engine has been changed and the number on it does not match the original you will not get the number re issued and may have to prove that what you have is indeed a tractor. It seems that only the original registration documents are acceptable so if you do not have a log book or your county has destroyed its old files, you may have to have a new registration, There is then a possibility it will take you out of the "Historic Vehicles" category and into the "Agricultural Vehicle" category with all that means as far as insurance is concerned.

Pictures, verification of casting codes and verification by a DVLA recognised body like the Ford and Fordson Association are not now enough to road register our tractors with age related numbers.

We have one gentleman in our next village who has tried to register a tractor five times with the help of an "approved" body (not the FFA) and each time the documents have been returned and registration denied. Both parties have filled the forms in correctly (in theory) but still they will not allow the tractor to be registered.

[Bensdexta]

I suppose there is a certain logic to that, as the old brown log book is the only official doc which gives both original reg no and tractor/engine serial no. But does anyone actually check that the log book no is the same as that on the tractor? I get the impression there is a black-market trade eg on ebay in old buff log books, presumeably for 'ringers' - why else would anyone want an old log book?

The council archives give the reg no, make and first owner, but no identity/serial no relating directly to a particular tractor.

[oehrick]

Thanks for the heads up Brian, not entirely surprised

Folks do collect the old tax disks Ben so may also collect the old logbooks, but I'd bet your guess is right I'm just so glad I got mine sorted before they closed the Norwich DVLA, even then Swansea managed to get it wrong - they put it in under the disabled vehicle category - praps I should have left it, there can't be many Fordson E1A invalid carriages on the road

BTW couldn't find its old log book but did find the one for our old scrapped muck loader Super, pssssst going cheap, only £1000 quid but I'd do a 90% discount for forum members guv...............

[58vintage]

Wow. I must have been really lucky with my FPM.
It had a reg plate with 2 characters missing and we didn't have the log book. We simply filled in the bits of the reg we could work out put the scribed number on the block as a serial number and sent it off with a cheque. 3 weeks later we get a letter saying they'd found the tractor on there system from the bits of info we'd supplied. Included was a new log book in my name and the existing original reg. All happened about a month ago.