Registering a Home Built trike for use by a Disabled Rider

It’s a safe bet that some of the readers of this blog are disabled bikers and perhaps even members of the National Association for Bikers with a Disability www.nabd.org.uk. It’s probably also safe to say that like myself they are on a limited budget when it comes to getting on the road and will have had to have a trike built, or even built one at home with the help of friends and family.

Being a home built vehicle its going to need a thing called an MSVA (Motorcycle Single Vehicle Approval) Easy enough to book and have done if your trike is built to the criteria laid out in the MSVA and it complies with the C&U (construction & use) regulations. It might fail however if it has adaptations for use by a disabled rider fitted to it.

The list of reasons a perfectly well built but adapted trike would fail the MSVA is a bit long to list here but if your trike would fail because it’s adapted for use by a disabled rider it’s not all bad news.

Fortunately there is a way to get your registration and inspection sorted out without too much bother. As a disabled person you are entitled to use a dispensation within the legislation that means that you only have to take the trike to your local DVLA site or office for an inspection before registration and for a MOT and weight certificate so they can issue your tax disk. The MOT station should also be able to stamp your frame number on for you. The weight of the trike will also determine the class of MOT it will be subject to and the price of the MOT. A trike with a weight of less than 410 kg will be a class 3 test and cost £35-00, any trike over 410kg is class 4 and will cost £50-00

I have been through the process and have been taking notes so that I may be able to steer some of you through it without too much hassle. This is sort of how it went.

Contact your local DVLA office and ask for form V627/1 a Built Up Vehicle Inspection Report and form V55/5 Application for a first licence for a used motor vehicle and declaration for registration.

Now I have to point out that my trike was home built using components from at least 4 different vehicles and as such is classed as a built up vehicle and not a new one. There may be different forms for other vehicles.

Make sure the person you speak to at the DVLA has all the information about your build and adaptations so they can send the correct forms. There’s nothing worse than having to fill in and post a second set because you were sent the wrong ones the first time.

The DVLA staff at the Manchester office were extremely helpful and made sure I received the correct documents to complete.

I found taking the forms into our local office a better option than posting as it saved time and one or two mistakes were corrected on the spot instead of having to wait for them to be posted back and forth.

Some of you may have been told that you can ride the trike to the inspection. This is not true and if caught you could face prosecution, the trike needs to be on a trailer. As an unregistered vehicle it is not allowed on the road and the DVLA staff told me it had to be on a trailer when it arrived for the inspection.

The Manchester office of the DVLA will not do a home inspection on your trike so if you live in the area you need to take this into consideration. Each office has it’s own way of doing things so it’ll be best to check than wind up disappointed.

It used to be the case they would but in an effort to reduce waiting times it’s now an appointment at a DVLA approved site instead.

Apparently it saves time as they can do more inspections in the time available if they do not have to travel to folk’s homes. I’m all for this as I expected to wait for a month or so at least but got in within 2 weeks.

There are some folk that tell me that they did it differently and rode to tests etc, or in some cases they had home visits. That may well have been the case but recently things have changed at the DVLA concerning the process with regards trikes and bikes built for use by disabled riders, for the better I hope. Hopefully in the near future all DVLA offices will start to use a countrywide strategy to get this done as simply and as quickly as possible.

So off to the inspection, not a MSVA test but an inspection to show that the trike is exactly as you describe it on the built up vehicle report and the registration application. Make sure you arrive in good time, these places run like clockwork and you will not be seen if you are late.

At the inspection the DVLA Inspector took a few photos and took the details of the parts down for comparison with the receipts I had submitted. He then told me he would put the details in the system that afternoon to produce the documents and Identity for the Trike. They would be posted out the next day. Once they arrive you can then take it for a MOT test and stamp the VIN on it. You can make your own Vehicle Identity Number up but I found it best to let the DVLA issue one as it saves time.

The DVLA will then issue your tax disk and registration number with for your trike.  They will issue a number plate authorisation certificate so you can get your plate. Your registration document will arrive in the post a short time later. It’s also a good idea to itemise your receipts and include the list and all receipts with the forms when you send them off.  I would also write a letter explaining your reasons for building the trike and highlight any adaptations you have fitted to suit your needs. This makes it easier for the staff at the DVLA to process your application without them having to contact you for additional information.

The more you tell them the first time means they don’t have to waste time writing to you. You will also need to include your DLA 404 to prove you are in receipt of the disabled tax entitlement. The proof of entitlement is down to the person registering a trike and you will be liable if you make a false declaration.

It’s a relatively simple process but make sure you have all your paperwork in order and I strongly suggest you do a proper job of the build. Even though our trike is not having an MSVA I am pretty certain it would pass one. Don’t do a half-baked job on your build just because you can get it registered without a MSVA, your safety and that of others depends on your building it right.

It’s also worth noting that if you fit a bolt in rear end you may be able to have your trike re- registered without having to have an MSVA or use the dispensation. I did my GSXR with a bolt in rear end and I only had to have a visual inspection and pay for the tax disc once it had been re- registered as a trike.

There are also some sad people out there who think the dispensation within the MSVA for a disabled rider is a loophole to be exploited. This is well out of order and in fact is a criminal offence. Supplying false information on the declaration you sign is in fact fraud and you will be prosecuted if caught out.

Rick Hulse, Chairman of the National Association for Bikers with a Disability put a lot of time and effort into winning the dispensation for disabled riders and it should not be abused. The NABD is always involved in ongoing consultations to try and improve the system and protect rider’s rights to build and use home built trikes and bikes.

If the abuse continues the government will pull the dispensation for disabled riders and ruin it for hundreds or even thousands of disabled riders all over the country.

The build wasn’t easy, or that hard come to think of it. The process of registering the trike was simplicity itself. It was only easy because I took the time to make the calls and gather all the paperwork I needed. I do think a simple bulleted leaflet with the steps on sent with your application forms from the DVLA would be helpful and hopefully it’s something they may consider and implement in the near future. It would save people a bit of time having all the information before you apply.

Like most things in life, It was easy because I made sure I got all the information I needed before I tried to register the trike and if you go about it in a similar fashion you will have relatively little bother in getting on the road.

I’ll be doing it all over again once the new trike build is done, I’ll see some of you on a country lane sometime soon.

Summer is upon us, the weather is looking decidedly ‘trikey’; remember to take care out there while enjoying yourselves.

Ride safe folks.

MSVA Information

 http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/index/motoring/owning-a-vehicle/mot/what_other_test_do_driver__vehicle_agency_carry_out_/the-motorcycle-single-vehicle-approval-msva-scheme.htm.

Links to DVLA information

Form 55/5 http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/motoring/buyingandsellingavehicle/registeringavehicle/dg_4022316

V627/1

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/diol1/doitonline/dg_4017568

My daughter Kim

http://www.greenbayphoenix.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=110178&SPID=13700&DB_OEM_ID=22500&ATCLID=205107994

Football scholarships in the USA, A Parents DIY Guide.

Being a parent is a tough job sometimes, it’s a very expensive one if you have two or more kids, especially if they all love playing football. Both of my girls are football mad and play the game most of the year. Most women’s and girls teams in the UK are funded by subs and parents with two or more kids do struggle to make sure they all get into organised sport.

It’s even harder if they have ambition and a fair bit of talent to be able to get them into the clubs that have the best coaches and players. The reality is that travel and training costs make it almost impossible for some kids to get the right training program for them as a player. The same has to be said in respect of the rising cost of university education in the UK and the huge debt your child could possibly carry into the first years of their working life. This is even more evident when you are from a disadvantaged background or your parents are on low incomes.

That’s where a football scholarship could be a solution, not only in the development of your son or daughter as a player but the chance to study at a good university and gain a degree.

Now some of you may be wondering why we chose to look at American colleges and universities, the simple answer is choice.  To get our daughter into a top football program coupled with the right courses for her at a UK university would be almost impossible without her having to rely heavily on student and personal loans all of which would add up to Thirty thousand pounds or more. This is clearly not going to be appealing to a seventeen year old who has watched her mum struggle to juggle finances to make sure both of our girls get to enjoy football.

With a full scholarship all we have to deal with is the cost of flights and medical insurance. Over four years we will only need to find about sixteen thousand pounds to cover her costs. It works out 14k or so cheaper in the long run.  Still not cheap but a whole heap easier to pay off in a sensible timescale at reasonable rates.

Now there are ‘specialist agencies’ that secure scholarships for ‘hundreds’ of students annually, we spoke to four of them and even went to an interview with one.  I use the term interview loosely here; it was more a power-point presentation and sales pitch. When the young chap mentioned a fee for a training game and a further two grand to facilitate offers of up to three ‘full rides’ and at least 9 offers of varying degree without even seeing my daughter play we thanked him for his time and left. The lowest quote we had was two thousand pounds up front; it was never going to be an option for us. In fact the one we went to see was clearly that focussed on getting the money out of us he forgot to tell his office we weren’t interested and we had them ring on two further occasions trying to set up interviews again. I finally had to speak to them in some rather colourful language that made our position very clear.

Be aware of

Now before I tell you how to do it I have to let you know a few things I have discovered while looking into scholarships in the USA.

The first thing you need to understand is that the Student Loans Department, Sport England, UK Sport and all of the other government funded bodies are a dead end. Not one of them will help you secure funding to travel to the USA to study. If you choose to study within the EU you might get some of it by way of loans and grants. Apparently it is a case of opportunity for all but only if you study where they dictate because of long standing agreements with the EU.

The FA will not help either. Despite my daughter being identified as gifted and talented, someone our county FA wants involved in coaching and refereeing young players in girls football. There is no assistance available from the games governing body. I often struggle to reconcile the FA claims of ‘football for all’ when it’s clear that there is no real support for youngsters who come from disadvantaged backgrounds as individuals. All of the support seems targeted at clubs or community projects or on those few players that make it into the centres of excellence.

Some banks will do career and development loans but only for those students on courses they cover under their particular scheme, it’s a very small list too. The only other option they offer is a personal loan but the repayments on that would start immediately and to be honest there are many families in financial positions that would preclude them from applying for one anyway.

The upshot being that even if your kid is good enough to secure a ‘full ride’, and they are few and far between it’s going to cost a bit to get them to and from the USA a couple of times a year. Many universities also only offer annual scholarship deals that are performance based so you could start on a full deal but have it cut at the end of any given year based on not only football performance but performance in the class room. Many universities in the USA pride themselves on a good GPA from student athletes.

Most prospective students may have to rely on family for funding and hope that they qualify for grants or bursaries from charitable organisations and benevolent trusts. Not easy to do and very time consuming but it can be done with a bit of work.

My final word of caution before I let you know how I went about securing a scholarship for my daughter is this.

Be absolutely sure your kid has the mindset and attitude needed to deal with being separated from family and friends for 9 months of the year for four years at least. If you have the slightest doubt, stop reading this now and go and brew up.

How I did it

I suppose the first thing to tell you is this, it’s not going to be free, easy or done in two or three days. It’s going to cost you about £500-00 as a rough guide depending on just how much effort and time you put into it. I’m laying it out, as I would do it now given all of the research I put in and information I have available.

 Five hundred pounds is a lot cheaper than paying someone two grand to tell you about all of the costs I’m about to reveal and send a few emails. The fifteen hundred quid I saved avoiding the ‘specialists’ is nearly the cost of a years flights to the USA.

The biggest expense you are likely to incur other than the airfares and insurance is going to be for good quality un-edited video footage of your kid playing for their club side. The higher the level your son or daughter plays at the better.

 If you own a camera and know what you are doing with it you may well save yourself a heap of money. Most of the coaches we contacted asked for links to You-tube so they could have a good look at what my daughter offered to their program as a player.

Don’t edit the footage, it only gives the impression you are trying to hide your kid’s weak points. If they know the level your youngster is at they can start to plan how to develop them as a player. It might cost up to £250-00/300-00 to have the video done professionally. I dropped lucky as I have a mate who does video production for a living so I saved the cost as he donated his time and services.

Send the links to your footage along with your youngsters CV, GCSE and AS level results to the coaching staff at the universities in the NCAA divisions 1 and 2. In my experience none of the Division 3 schools will offer scholarships. Approach the universities you feel offer the right program and courses for your son or daughter to pursue their chosen career path. You can find a comprehensive list of Division 1 and 2 universities and colleges at http://web1.ncaa.org/memberLinks/links.jsp?div=1

The NCAA is the National Collegiate Athletics Association and they are the governing body for student athletes in the USA. Your son or daughter will also have to register with the NCAA as an athlete. It should cost around £75-00 depending on exchange rates.

The next expense will be the SAT test required by the NCAA clearing house, this is to ensure all student athletes are able to study at a level that will see them gain a decent result in their chosen subjects. The SAT can be booked here http://sat.collegeboard.com/home . They will cost in the region of £45-00 again depending on the Dollar/ Pound exchange rate.

The final cost you will have to pay up front so to speak is the cost of a student visa; A F1 student visa to the USA will cost £121-00 or thereabouts again depending on exchange rates at the time of application. Information on Visas can be found here http://usimmigration.visapro.com/F1-Student-Visa.asp .

Any university that is going to invest in your son or daughter will have a proven track record when it comes to dealing with questions from parents and students from the UK and will have an international admissions department that will be able to advise you on specific requirements in all aspects of an application to a university in the USA. They will also be able to advise you on insurance plans and what needs to be covered. They will also be able to help with your visa application.

Coaches from the universities are only allowed to contact you once a week whilst you are considering offers from their school. They are allowed to answer any questions you ask directly but are not allowed to ring or email unless you ask them to.

We had one or two schools have different members of staff ring to get round the rule, we also had one or two apply undue pressure to sign up with them before we had time to consider other offers but on the whole they stuck to the rules as laid out by the NCAA.

In all I sent over a hundred emails and got thirty replies, some with partial scholarships, two saying they felt my daughter would not be suited to their program but crucially we had six offers of full scholarships.

Think long and hard on the offers you receive, make sure the school offers not only a decent sports program but make sure it has a high graduation rate too.

Bigger is not always better when it comes to the scholarships either. Your son or daughter will get more from the experience if the class sizes are reasonable and the campus is not over crowded.

Out of those six, we discounted two for being too pushy, one for being too much of a hassle in respect of travel and connecting flights.

Of the three left we took the degree courses on offer into account and had a good look at the level of the football program and then looked to see if the stage of development my daughter is at ties into their programs plans.

We didn’t take the highest offer either; our decisions were based purely on our daughters needs as a student and athlete. A full scholarship should cover tuition, room and board and the cost of books needed for course work.

My daughter has a full scholarship, she leaves in July/August 2011 to study at and play for a division 1 university. She’s over the moon and about to realise a dream she has held since she started playing football at 12 years old. Her first junior coach plays and studies in the USA and my daughter has always wanted to do the same.

Coaches are already looking two and three years ahead in the USA so the earlier you start the better chance you have of securing the right scholarship for your son or daughter. My daughter was lucky the right program for her was one of her preferred choices starting this autumn but we would have waited twelve months had the offer only been for next year. Do not rush into this, it’s too important to get wrong, think long and hard, I can’t stress that enough.

It’s not rocket science but you do need to do a lot of reading and check all of the information you are given before you make decisions. If your son or daughter wants it badly enough then you can make it a reality without having to find silly amounts of money up front and leaving them with big student loan debts.

Even having to pay for airfare and insurance my child will be 14 grand less in debt than her peers at UK universities. It’s just a crying shame the government, who promote education for all can’t see the opportunity it is denying hundreds of young people annually by being so unwilling to have an original thought when it comes to processing student loan applications.

How can they think that getting into 30K+ debt here in the UK is better than getting into 16K’s worth of debt by studying overseas? If that’s the kind of rational taught at Oxford and Cambridge my kid is defiantly better off going to study in the USA anyway.

Please bear in mind they call is soccer in the USA, I quickly learnt to put  ‘Soccer scholarship ‘ in the subject line of out going emails when I had one coach email me back saying that despite being 5’6 and a solid 135 lbs he felt my daughter was too small for his football team even as a wide receiver!

Some coaches it appears have a good sense of humour.

My next mission should I choose to accept it is to make sure we secure the funding for four years worth of travel and insurance.

That folks is a whole new set of issues to look at and overcome and should we manage with the help of friends, family, loans and bursaries I’ll probably feel compelled to write and let you all know how that worked out too.