I for one am glad to read this heartening bit of news that VOSA has tested the waters of their new powers and have seized and crushed 2 stretch limos being operated illegally.

Linky here: http://www.cpt-uk.org/_uploads/attachment/1698.pdf

As a legit licenced PSV and private hire operator, I'm fed up with these unlicenced and often uninsured vehemoths plaguing our roads and putting lives at risk.

Pictures here: http://www.route-one.net/e-books/currentIssue/index.html#/4/

According to further reports in RouteOne, a couple of illegal coaches and several minibuses have been impounded and are awaiting further disposal if they are street legal; if they're not street legal, they'll be crushed!

would this include funeral services with 8 seat cars?

Cars with more than 8 passenger seats must have a COIF and be licenced as a PSV.

Funeral and wedding cars are exempt from private hire licencing regulations.

cant see much difference between a trip to a wedding reception in an 8 seat limo
and a trip to town and a night out.i must be missing a point.

Tbh I'd ban them all from the roads. There was one picking a few folk up from their house round here for some religious event, and it took 10 mins to negotiate a simple junction, cos the roads werent made for a stretch hummer....

I remember seeing one my sisters friend had for her 16th party.. it was a wreck... american import, and owned by a local drug dealer (now inside for a few years, and the cars IIRC were done for no tax!)

What defines a funeral or wedding car, aside from white ribbons or box in the back?

wedding cars and funural cars tend to be black or white , and are just limmos with an extra row of seats , not 24ft long and painted pink !



burn the buggers ! they are not sutable (lengh) to be driven on british roads

I don't know, it's quite entertaining to see them trying to negotiate some of the back streets in the West End, London.

Funeral and wedding cars, or to put it more precisely, are cars being used in direct connection with a wedding or funeral ceremony. the wording has recently been changed to stop illegal stretch limos being used for hen nights and the like.

The exemption from private hire licencing has always been there to allow the owners of things like historic cars to use them for weddings and earn a few bob. Such cars may not meet current local authority private hire regs for obvious reasons.

Most stretch limos stopped by VOSA and the BiB have attracted numerous prohibitions; drivers hours prosecutions, no licence, no insurance, no MoT, operated by known criminals etc.

Would you let YOUR son or daughter travel in one?

As GB says, they cannot negotiate our roads. The few that are street legal that have a PSV Certificate of Initial Fitness and are properly licenced have been heavily modified to meet EU spec, especially on steering lock, brakes, emergency exits, emissions and more. I think at the last count there were about 40 LEGAL stretch limos in the country operating under PSV licences. I don't know how many operate under private hire licences, but most local authorities won't licence left hand drive vehicles.

There's an old fire engine being used as a limo in Newcastle. Its a bit of a surprise to see the doors open and a pile of "hens" on their night out falling out with glasses in hand.

http://www.gobananas.co.uk/fire-engine-hir...n-weekends.html

Good few of them in Glasgow too. Mind you occasionally the swatch hanging out the windows is goood (not when its jailbait though )

Gobananas is on the VOSA hit list. They've warned that outfit already. Basically, if it's over 8 seats used for hire and reward, no COIF/PSV etc, they will have a crush on it!

Theyre all tasteless ,trashy and vulgar...
mike

Yep, and mostly illegal in operation, licencing, maintenance, the lot, and usually operated by organised crime.

If you search the RouteONE bus trade magazine website, there's loads of cases reported there of such activities and how VOSA and the Traffic commissioners are trying to put them off the road.

Incidentally, the first 2 coaches to be seized are now about to be "diisposed of" by VOSA.