Fleets churn vehicles. Trucks reach end of contract, vans get replaced, trailers get cascaded or sold. The disposal conversation usually centres on price, timing and paperwork - and almost never on the fact that selling a vehicle in the wrong condition is a criminal offence, not a civil dispute between buyer and seller.
That offence lives in section 75 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, and every transport manager involved in disposing of fleet vehicles should know its shape, because the defence most sellers assume they have - “I sold it as seen” - is much narrower than they think.
Section 75(1) says that no person shall supply a motor vehicle or trailer in an unroadworthy condition. “Supply” is defined widely: it includes selling, offering to sell or supply, and exposing for sale. You do not have to complete the transaction to commit the offence. Advertising a truck for sale in an unroadworthy condition, or having it sitting on the sales pitch with a price on it, is within scope.
“Unroadworthy condition” is defined in section 75(3) by reference to the construction and use rules: a vehicle is unroadworthy for this purpose if it is in such a condition that its use on a road would be unlawful under the construction and use framework - broadly, if it would breach the requirements that make a vehicle legal to be on the road at all. Brakes, steering, tyres, lights, structure: the same defects that would fail an MOT or earn a prohibition at the roadside make a vehicle unroadworthy for sale purposes.
Section 75 builds in defences, but they have to be made out properly.
The principal route is the “sold for scrap or repair” style of dealing. The Act provides that a person is not convicted if they can prove the vehicle was supplied on the basis that it was not roadworthy and would not be used on the road in that condition - the statutory text addresses the case where the buyer understands the vehicle’s condition and purpose. In practice this is why the trade uses “sold as seen”, “sold for spare parts” and “not for road use” language. But note what the law actually requires: it is not the magic words that save you, it is being able to prove the basis of the deal. A buyer who drives the vehicle away on the road in an unroadworthy state, while you look on, is not consistent with a genuine scrap sale.
There is also protection for the bona fide auction and for supply where the seller proves they had reasonable cause to believe the vehicle would not be used on the road in Great Britain in that condition - for example, export sales. Again, the belief must be reasonable and evidenced.
Most fleet disposals are fine: maintained vehicles, full records, sold in roadworthy condition with a current MOT. The risk concentrates in a few situations:
Section 75 is old law but live law, and it sits alongside consumer protection rules and the general construction and use offences. The compliant habit is simple: never let a vehicle leave the fleet in a condition you would not want to defend in writing, unless the paperwork says exactly why it left that way and where it was going.