Im helping a friend move house, Edinburgh-Nice and im the driver.

Ive been trying to find info on this, as ive heard things like; the biggest van i can drive on a UK license in France is 3.5T, there is no such thing as helping a mate so it must be paid work and i must be registered accordingly…
Ive just talked to a hire company and all they said i need is the usual first aid kit/lots of bulbs and reflective items, and never mentioned anything about not being able to drive a 7.5t truck.

Can anyone shed some light on this, as the the last thing i want is to be getting stopped and fined in France, or possibly having the vehicle impounded!

you may not be allowed to drive it on the weekends, you'll have to check that out too!

It'd probably be wise to use a tacho & stick to the allowed hours too

strictly speaking unless it's for commercial purposes so you don't need to but proving that the the French plod will be difficult & they'll probably fine you anyway & tell you to appeal
the weekend restrictions are for over 7.5t

Are you entitled to drive one in the UK with your license? (must have passed test after 1997). It will need the C1 entitlement.

My understanding is that the rules were changed in the uk (i.e this entitlement was not given to you by default after this date) to bring it in line with EU riles, therefor if you have their entitlement here then you have it there.

As for your motives, it is for hire or reward so don't worry about he paid work aspect, its simply a private matter, no commercial (i.e. no tacho etc etc).

Well I can't speak for France but here in Belgium you are entitled to use the C1 category on your licence for 5 years after you are registered as a resident. After that you require a medical to be allowed to drive C1 which is the same as if you had a Belgian licence.
A British colleague of mine has just gone through the process for his large motorhome thing…

If its legal in the UK, its legal in any other EU country, even if it is illegal under their own laws. (Just because its legal, won't mean the police over there will not try and stop and fine you!)

This is why motorhomes are able to tow cars on A-frames all over Europe whilst the locals look on jealously! Also the reason that you will see foreign cars over here with caravans who's number plates that do not match the tow vehicle (trailers have their own registration) and vice versa UK caravans in Europe are not required to be registered seperately from the car.

must have passed test after 1997

To clarify, before Jan 97 you will have C1, from Jan 97 on you won't.

Thanks for the answers guys.
Unfortunately, i am old enough to have passed my test well before 1997!

My mate is French, so ive decided that he is coming back through France with me, just so he's there to talk to the police if there is a problem, and i'll drop him off when im at the ferry port.

I don't know if this will help, but when I changed my British licence for A Spanish one the C1 category remained until 2007, a straight swap, and therefore (was) allowed to drive 7.500kg, and even up to 12.000kg.
So I guess there shouldn't be a problem. Isn't this why we joined the EU?

Think you will need a Tacho regardless as I understand. Know of people stopped who only occasionally drive a Tacho equiped vehicle and didn't have required amount of used charts. Meant to have three weeks worth on you. This meant no record of your activities and no evidence of proper rest breaks, this meant they had to park up for I think 48hrs so they could legaly start of in the eyes of the law.

a lot of hgv's no longer have a tacho but a digital recorder that records all driving hours and rest stops onto a card held by the driver, check with the hire company
not sure about 7.5t's though, may depend how old it is

All vehicles over 3.5t (that aren't registered as motorhomes) are required to be fitted with a tacho. From about 2005 they'll have digital tachos fitted.

I'm pretty sure that provided you're not driving the vehicle for hire or reward, then you don't need to worry about keeping a record. However, it would be best to check with the hire company (if they're a decent company, then they'll be able to check with the BVRLA for clarification).