Driving overweight van

Author
Discussion

snobetter

1,164 posts

147 months

Tuesday 20th February
quotequote all
colinrob said:
Personally I think the rules are madness's, I suppose its a but like braking distances, everything is out of date but the rules are there, if you get caught you took the risk, if you didn't you are lucky, sold my van now so will not drive overweight, I made a stupid mistake being overweight, won't do it again.
Had some of our vans re-plated to 3.75 tn, paper exercise, everything already specced to that on van.

bigothunter

11,415 posts

61 months

Tuesday 20th February
quotequote all
snobetter said:
Had some of our vans re-plated to 3.75 tn, paper exercise, everything already specced to that on van.
But then you are in the world of tachographs, drivers hours, operators licences and 56mph hard speed limiters. Overheads have just escalated skywards.

Or am I mistaken?


snobetter

1,164 posts

147 months

Tuesday 20th February
quotequote all
bigothunter said:
snobetter said:
Had some of our vans re-plated to 3.75 tn, paper exercise, everything already specced to that on van.
But then you are in the world of tachographs, drivers hours, operators licences and 56mph hard speed limiters. Overheads have just escalated skywards.

Or am I mistaken?
Not in my line of work, but I was making the point of the van is already capable (usually) of a higher payload. Driver may not be, C1 etc.

bigothunter

11,415 posts

61 months

Tuesday 20th February
quotequote all
snobetter said:
Not in my line of work, but I was making the point of the van is already capable (usually) of a higher payload. Driver may not be, C1 etc.
Design capability of commercial vehicles usually exceeds their plated weights. That's been the case for many years.

Regardless operating above plated weights (ie overloaded) is still breaking the law.





Cat

3,025 posts

270 months

Tuesday 20th February
quotequote all
Chainsaw Rebuild said:
TM here l, just to concur with Cat - it applies to any vehicle and your TM is wrong. You are going to need an O licence and the rest of it.
Whether or not an O licence is required would depend on the unladen weight of the trailer. If it is less than 1020kg then no O licence needed.

Cat

blank

3,467 posts

189 months

Tuesday 20th February
quotequote all
Chainsaw Rebuild said:
Cat said:
blank said:
I'm sure you're right, but can you point me to the legislation on that because that's not the conclusion our transport manager came to?
Your TM has come to the wrong conclusion...

Transport Act 1968 and Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council.

Cat
TM here l, just to concur with Cat - it applies to any vehicle and your TM is wrong. You are going to need an O licence and the rest of it.
We already have an O Licence (hence having a TM) as we have proper HGVs too. Although most of our trailer stuff is tacho exempt (hours book still needed) due to carriage of own goods and radius from base. I've always been told that if the tow vehicle is not a goods vehicle then it's irrelevant for the O Licence but guess not! Glad I'm not TM as the rules are clear as mud in many scenarios!

Edited by blank on Tuesday 20th February 13:37

blue_haddock

3,295 posts

68 months

Tuesday 20th February
quotequote all
Little Pete said:
Police and DVSA are stopping 3500kg recovery trucks too. These are often overweight.
My mate runs a vehicle transport firm and he often says that modern recovery trucks cant take even a basic fiesta without being over weight

sim16v

2,177 posts

202 months

Saturday 24th February
quotequote all
Another thing to note when towing with vans such as Sprinters and Vitos.

Many are only plated to tow 1.8-2.2t.

To have the full 3.5t towing capacity, they needed to have the factory fit tow kit fitted.

After market is lower.

KTMsm

26,954 posts

264 months

Saturday 24th February
quotequote all
sim16v said:
Another thing to note when towing with vans such as Sprinters and Vitos.

Many are only plated to tow 1.8-2.2t.

To have the full 3.5t towing capacity, they needed to have the factory fit tow kit fitted.

After market is lower.
There isn't a plated tow weight that I'm aware of, there is merely a recommendation - which is mostly to do with starting on a hill

You have the gross train weight so you can either carry it or tow it

I confirmed this with a vosa as I regularly tow almost 3T with my (empty) Vito



I believe if you have an accident when you are over the recommended weight, it would be up to you to prove it was safe, which is obviously going to be hard to do biggrin

From the plate you can either carry one ton and tow two tons or you can carry nothing and tow three tons (van weighs approx 1900kg)


Edited by KTMsm on Saturday 24th February 21:39

wisbech

2,992 posts

122 months

Thursday 29th February
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Eh - isn’t the issue people using vans for things they are not to be used for, rather than regulations?

Van/ pickup = vehicle for a tradie and their tools/ materials, or for light/ volume delivery. So about a tonne payload is all that is needed. Compromise is that you don’t need all the licensing for a truck, as they are considered to be on par with cars for safety/ handling purposes.

Need more than that, get a 7.5 tonne truck, not a van.

KTMsm

26,954 posts

264 months

Thursday 29th February
quotequote all
wisbech said:
Eh - isn’t the issue people using vans for things they are not to be used for, rather than regulations?

Van/ pickup = vehicle for a tradie and their tools/ materials, or for light/ volume delivery. So about a tonne payload is all that is needed. Compromise is that you don’t need all the licensing for a truck, as they are considered to be on par with cars for safety/ handling purposes.

Need more than that, get a 7.5 tonne truck, not a van.
Not really - it's that the laws / weights haven't been updated - a bit like the speed limits

70mph in a 1960's car is not the same as 70 in a modern car and modern vans have got so heavy that they can barely carry anything anymore

I do some building work - a pallet of tiles / bricks / bulk bag along with some bits and bobs / tools will typically mean I'm overloaded

There's no way a 7.5T would be a better fit for me or thousands like me

bigothunter

11,415 posts

61 months

Thursday 29th February
quotequote all
KTMsm said:
Not really - it's that the laws / weights haven't been updated - a bit like the speed limits

70mph in a 1960's car is not the same as 70 in a modern car and modern vans have got so heavy that they can barely carry anything anymore

I do some building work - a pallet of tiles / bricks / bulk bag along with some bits and bobs / tools will typically mean I'm overloaded

There's no way a 7.5T would be a better fit for me or thousands like me
Only in the comparatively unregulated 3500kg sector.

5000kg vans are available. But like 7500kg trucks, there are penalties.


KTMsm

26,954 posts

264 months

Thursday 29th February
quotequote all
bigothunter said:
Only in the comparatively unregulated 3500kg sector.

5000kg vans are available. But like 7500kg trucks, there are penalties.
We don't need 5000kg and we certainly don't need more regulation !

In a world of heavy SUVs and EVs vans have been left behind with outdated regulations

bigothunter

11,415 posts

61 months

Thursday 29th February
quotequote all
KTMsm said:
bigothunter said:
Only in the comparatively unregulated 3500kg sector.

5000kg vans are available. But like 7500kg trucks, there are penalties.
We don't need 5000kg and we certainly don't need more regulation !

In a world of heavy SUVs and EVs vans have been left behind with outdated regulations
Extending regulations which currently apply to 3500kg vans down to 2200kg has been proposed. That includes tachographs, drivers hours and probably 56mph speed limiters. Thankfully it has gone quiet, for now.

Authorities want to increase their control of the commercial sector not compromise it.