[trevor povey]

Morning gents any of you big users ever put a 4th seat in the back of a van over the rear wheel arch.. Got a 1.5 ton payload Peugeot and occasionally there's a 4th person who can help. Now he can make his own way to the wrk but would be easier jumping in with us.. Any pointers re suppliers..or advice appreciated

[Spruce]

Morning gents any of you big users ever put a 4th seat in the back of a van over the rear wheel arch.. Got a 1.5 ton payload Peugeot and occasionally there's a 4th person who can help. Now he can make his own way to the wrk but would be easier jumping in with us.. Any pointers re suppliers..or advice appreciated

As far as I'm aware its illegal (or it was when I was in the trade) to add a side mounted seat in the rear of any vehicle. There were exceptions with the old Landrovers so they were excluded from the legislation. Public transport, ambulances and army vehicles were also excluded. It has something to do with the seat belt regulations. Somehow Nissan Kingcabs with tiny side 'dickie' seats escaped the legislation to begin with, but if memory serves me they were effected a while afterwards.

What you are looking for is a rear seat convertor. This is made to legislation and has to be fitted with the correct seat belt mounting. The seats could be permanently fixed or be fitted with quick release clamps for quick removal.

Example
https://www.fastfitnationwide.com/van-seat-conversions

I can't remember the name of the company that supplied and fitted rear seats to a van we sold - customer arranged it - but they came as a 'block' of 3 individual seats which meant you could have just one rear seat.

They most important issue is ensuring that your passenger is properly secure in the advent of an accident. Insurance companies will look very closely at a van with more than 3 seats in the front.

The convertors also had to fit these themselves. They wouldn't sell them for DIY fitment.

[CleanClear]

Here it is from the horses mouth, its quite suprising ;

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/converting-a-van-to-carry-passengers-in-the-rear/converting-a-van-to-carry-passengers-in-the-rear

[Pete Thompson]

4 people in 1 van...

I would’ve thought that would be highly inefficient to be honest. Out of interest, how much work does that team of 4 get through in a day (in money) - genuine question!

The reason I ask is that we go 2 ppl in the van sometimes, and it’s nowhere near as efficient as 1 person. 1 person can do around £320-£350 per day. 2 ppl can only do about £400 (so only an extra £50-£80).

When I expand a bit further, I’m just going to get another van to avoid doubling-up. It seems that the more people per van, the less per person can be done.

[Spruce]

Here it is from the horses mouth, its quite suprising ;

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/converting-a-van-to-carry-passengers-in-the-rear/converting-a-van-to-carry-passengers-in-the-rear

Thank you for finding this.

So the spirit of the law has the onus of the safety aspect of rear passenger onto the vehicle owner/driver and the insurance company the vehicle is insured with.
It's little wonder then that the manufacturers of these components specify fitting terms and conditions to their supply  as they could also be held accountable if things went wrong.

Last year brother in law bought a brand new motorhome based on a Fiat Ducato lwb van. Its a 3 berth; 2 single beds length ways at the rear with a dining table that drops down to make  a double bed.
The remaining single bed in the front converts into a forward facing passenger seat with seatbelt.

When he took delivery they specifically told him that this rear seating area was never to be used when the vehicle was on the move as it was side facing and there were no seat restraints. So I'm guessing its a CYA principle which applies.

[EandM]

As far as I'm aware its illegal (or it was when I was in the trade) to add a side mounted seat in the rear of any vehicle. There were exceptions with the old Landrovers so they were excluded from the legislation. Public transport, ambulances and army vehicles were also excluded. It has something to do with the seat belt regulations. Somehow Nissan Kingcabs with tiny side 'dickie' seats escaped the legislation to begin with, but if memory serves me they were effected a while afterwards.




It's interesting the King Cab reference:

There were a couple of Super / Extra Cab pickups with longitudinal rather than transverse seats in the UK.
The seating fell foul of the Construction & Use Regs and disqualified the pickups from Dual Purpose exemption and left them with commercial speed limits - all just for the seat layout !

It's obviously frowned upon.

[Slash]

Morning gents any of you big users ever put a 4th seat in the back of a van over the rear wheel arch.. Got a 1.5 ton payload Peugeot and occasionally there's a 4th person who can help. Now he can make his own way to the wrk but would be easier jumping in with us.. Any pointers re suppliers..or advice appreciated

With four guys working ,surely you can afford another van.