Police checking motorhomes and caravans on M5

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[Spriddler]

I'm half with you...if a uniformed cop in a dayglo jacket stood at the side of a road and shook his/her head and pointed at people who weren't driving to the letter of the law...they'd slow down/put their phone down etc etc. You could argue his/her presence contributes to safety as people slow down. The same sort of thing with camera vans...people see them and slow down....but I'd rather they were just honest and called them speed camera vans. "Speeding is against the law, speed and you may get done, don't moan about it, just slow down" sort of thing.

The Dutch are a canny lot...........

 

[bornagain]

ink its time the whole business of weight/payload was overhauled. We bought an Elddis Aspire 255 in 2012, it was rated at 3500kg at the NEC the supplying dealer threw in a paper upgrade to 3700 kg but two adults tow dogs and a packet of crisps we were 3580 kg. We bought a new Burstner IEXO 736 4 berth 2019 rated at 4000kgs even with 20 litres of water minimum bedding and food we were 4120 kgs with four adults. Even we uprated to 4500 kg we have to be careful when loading.

Tow dogs ?
Most of us rely on a diesel engine but your van is powered by Huskies. You must get through a lot of Pedigree Chum.
Woof Woof.

 

[Jonno1103]

Personally I think they should be targeting cars packed to the gunwales too. On the A47 today A Toyota Aygo passed me with a roofbox and the tops of the rear wheels hidden under the arches. These cars are made of tin foil with wheels thinner than my arms... it's just irresponsible.

 

[Jonno1103]

Let's hope some vans were returned to thier rightfull owners

Yeah, wouldn't want them to hand me back a Carthago A Class by mistake!

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[Wee Bold Davy]

I disagree. In North Yorkshire we have no fixed cameras but mobile vans that can be almost anywhere. It means you have to drive always within the limit or close to it unless you want a ticket. I think we ought to have more mobile cameras around the country and they should be allowed to operate anywhere.

Here in Powys they announce online each month exactly where you can expect to find the mobile cameras.

 

[Captain Yoghurtpot]

I'm struggling a bit on your water and gas figures.

We only have a small portable container for water at 12ltrs max
( we have no boiler or hot water) and gas is a campingaz 907 cylinder which at weigh-in was half full.
It's a Campervan and NOT a Motorhome ( no fixed loo and no bathroom).
We REALLY are changing exactly what we used to do.
Ours is now more of a hybrid cross between Camping , Caravanning and Campervanning.
The vast majority of what we will do will be on sites, as we like them, with ehu , and we have no intention of going
"Davy Crockett off-grid style" at all unless forced in an emergency.
Thus we can travel with a little water for drinking and tea etc and then top-up once on site.
Same with waste water, as no grey tank.
Just an outlet into a container or waste master and empty daily if needed, but it will only be washing up water which has been very lightly used.
The main washing up will be in the wash block on site, as will showers and ablutions in the toilet block.
Really will be a completely different, stripped back, affair.
And we can't wait!

 

[gus-lopez]

It means you have to drive always within the limit or close to it unless you want a ticket.

That's why jammers were invented.

 

[TheBig1]

I know I have been shouted down multiple times, but a police contact of mine did say they were due to have a campaign if funding allowed. The DVSA inspection site at A31/A338 junction is being opened over summer and M27, Rownhams earmarked for one or more inspection day for caravans/leisure vehicles. Round here the easy money makers are the horseboxes and trailers they stop followed by the boats being transported. Motorhomes are way down the list, but be certain that the ANPR if switched on has the revenue weight of the vehicle pop up on screen instantly if overladen

 

[TheBig1]

Here in Powys they announce online each month exactly where you can expect to find the mobile cameras.

locally we have a facebook group that notifies of the current and next location for the ex police photographic society vans. Often illegally parked as it happens, on pavements or part blocking a carriageway with no parking allowed

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[Coastal Cruiser.]

I actually asked for one about 12 years ago
Carrying out new roads and bridge construction in Brighton and we were working on both sides plus the central reservation.
Cars would come off the 70mph slip road come down the hill doing that and more into what should have been a 40 mph limitwas like dicing with death trying to cross or get plant across. Requested a speed camera there to slow them down and the bloke came out assessed it and said it’s to dangerous to put a van thereI said that was the point that it was dangerous and your van would be well back on the verge so ok.
He was having none of it and never got the camera

Obviously looked and see he would not earn much out of it so went elsewhere

 

[3crispies]

Had our new to us VW T5 t30 campervan weighed on Thursday with pop-top roof and full conversion, plus 80 ltrs diesel as full and 6kg water, plus gas at 3kg.
GVW unladen is 3000kg.
Van came in at 2180kg.
With 2 adults at 75kg each and grand kids at 21kg each makes us at 2372kg ready to load and roll.
Payload therefore at 628kg!!!
Was quite surprised at this and we won't use anywhere near this as we are completely downsizing.
Oh, and van has uprated tyres for weight.

Thats quite good for a conversion, our stock T6 .1 kombi weighs that.

 

[DuxDeluxe]

The Dutch are a canny lot...........

View attachment 928766

Who said that the Swiss have no sense of humour? This was just east of Geneva airport. There was also a black and white cow coloured one on the Rue de Lausanne close by where I lived

 

[Chrisvh]

locally we have a facebook group that notifies of the current and next location for the ex police photographic society vans. Often illegally parked as it happens, on pavements or part blocking a carriageway with no parking allowed

It may be worth your while to research legal exemptions for vehicles engaged on police duties.

 

[Bobbejaan]

Will they have a DVLA Manager in attendance to explain to the Police why there are discrepancies on V5c forms?

It'll be interesting if our 1998 Tardis-Too ever gets stopped for checking.

My V5c has absolutely NO weight figures printed on it of any sort ..... NOR does the original Ford Factory VIN Plate have any stamped weights on it ..... NOR does the Converters-Build VIN Plate have any stamped weights on it.

..... Bob surreptitiously thumbs-nose at DVLA / DVSA

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[Bobbejaan]

Well they count aircraft out of airbases to give our enemy a heads up. (Not that the BBC ever called them the enemy) So why not warn motorhome owners

Fortunately Jim .... I've never had the urge to fly my van over Germany or Russia for a bombing raid.

 

[Captain Yoghurtpot]

Thats quite good for a conversion, our stock T6 .1 kombi weighs that.

Ooooh..........another VDub owner.
Nice, don't feel so alone now .
Yes,was very surprised as was thinking might have to go for uprating at first, but now will easily work with what I have got, and as we are downsizing, we are getting shut of a LOT of clutter.
Different strokes for different folks!

 

[Puddleduck]

Ignorance is NO excuse

Incoming

No issues here. We weighed our van every spring AND before every long trip. Fully laden we were never closer than 90kg (below) max weight and axles both also within plated rates.

 

[Nigel P]

If their intentions were to protect others then surely an immediate intervention should be made to remove the risk by stopping the unsafe act. What they are currently doing is imposing financial penalty which if repeated sufficiently would eventually eliminate risk by removal of driver entitlement. Therefore, I stand by my point that these operations are more about raising revenue than reducing risk to road users.

The opportunity to intervene on a free flowing carriageway may be quite difficult and having a 'one to one' conversation with a multitude of drivers would be impossible. 'After the event' challenges by correspondence are productive in many ways, most speeding offences within the initial offending band are generally disposed of via speed awareness courses which are provided by third parties. The 'owning force' do not gain financially other than funding via their road safety partnerships so they have no money making incentive to conduct speeding detection programs. The deterent benefit is well documented, many attending speed awareness courses are surprised how little they new/understood about driving and pass on those messages to family and friends. So for every encounter the 'deterent' message is multiplied several times; it would be a simple presumption to think if you were taken to task for any motoring issues via a stop check or detection vehicle you would be more careful next time in that locality and so would any others that you told about it. That to me seems to promote road safety and avoiding costly fines, thus quite the opposite of generating income.

 

[TheBig1]

It may be worth your while to research legal exemptions for vehicles engaged on police duties.

But they are not police and not on police business. Local safety camera partnership. None of them hold a current valid warrant card

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[TheBig1]

It'll be interesting if our 1998 Tardis-Too ever gets stopped for checking.

My V5c has absolutely NO weight figures printed on it of any sort ..... NOR does the original Ford Factory VIN Plate have any stamped weights on it ..... NOR does the Converters-Build VIN Plate have any stamped weights on it.

..... Bob surreptitiously thumbs-nose at DVLA / DVSA

Then your vehicle does not comply with the construction and use regulations, as it is not in any taxation class officially

I have seen blank VIN plates on exMOD vehicles, but once sold to the public should have gone through the old DVLA VOSA testing to determine the details. Same test as used to be applied to imported vehicles basically so they get entered on the DVLA database.

Last one I saw was an ex RAF fire service vehicle that never used to leave the base. A guy bought it at a disposal auction and had a long drawn out battle getting it registered correctly as not new at first registration and had no identifying numbers. I believe that in the end they accepted the engine number as being unique to that vehicle. Would have been easier if it was an historic vehicle

 

[DuxDeluxe]

But they are not police and not on police business. Local safety camera partnership. None of them hold a current valid warrant card

The guys that set up outside my house are civilian employees and quite chatty.

 

[TheBig1]

The guys that set up outside my house are civilian employees and quite chatty.

exactly, but they masquerade as police officers. They never say it, but imply it. They man the vans and take the photographs but legally a police officer has to agree each one to report it. They rarely do and just rubber stamp the output from the vans. Same thing goes on with the fixed cameras. Civilians process the data, no photos to develop these days as the cameras are all digital and send the shots in immediately via mobile network. A mobile phone jammer, although illegal would cause havoc if used by a camera location

 

[Lusky]

View attachment 928530

EXCELLENT !

 

[Bobbejaan]

Then your vehicle does not comply with the construction and use regulations, as it is not in any taxation class officially

Not so .... ALL the vehicle V5c Documents have always been "blank weight" (I have copies of all of them them dating back to First Registration) and it was originally built for & registered by a District Council when it was built by a manufacturer in Wales (IIRC) and it has been Registered & Taxed as a Disabled Class vehicle by the DVLA for the many years I've owned it without any problem.

That's one reason why I said it would be "interesting" IF the authorities ever tried to dispute the historical facts, and any potential punitive action against me by any such authorities due to THEIR historic or potential error(s) and/or failure(s) would be ultra vires and doomed to fail.
I am something of a "stubborn bugger" and won't be bullied or browbeaten by any authority when I know that I'm Legally Correct.

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[Roger S]

There's more than one way of killing a chicken, other than by sticking a strawberry up its ar*e as my old boss used to say.

I wasnt aware that you could dispatch a chicken by sticking a strawberry up its ae*e ! I wonder how hard and how far it needs to go

 

[stewartwebr]

The opportunity to intervene on a free flowing carriageway may be quite difficult and having a 'one to one' conversation with a multitude of drivers would be impossible. 'After the event' challenges by correspondence are productive in many ways, most speeding offences within the initial offending band are generally disposed of via speed awareness courses which are provided by third parties. The 'owning force' do not gain financially other than funding via their road safety partnerships so they have no money making incentive to conduct speeding detection programs. The deterent benefit is well documented, many attending speed awareness courses are surprised how little they new/understood about driving and pass on those messages to family and friends. So for every encounter the 'deterent' message is multiplied several times; it would be a simple presumption to think if you were taken to task for any motoring issues via a stop check or detection vehicle you would be more careful next time in that locality and so would any others that you told about it. That to me seems to promote road safety and avoiding costly fines, thus quite the opposite of generating income.

But you would remove the immediate risk. Intervention worked for many years prior to the introduction of the cash cow vans.

 

[PP Bear]

The Dutch are a canny lot...........

View attachment 928766

When stationed in Germany, we witnessed many green household bins that were placed out on bin day and held their speed cameras. Also hidden at bus stops and concealed as waste bins on the bus stop post. Canny lot and were easily catching speeding traffic.

 

[Pausim]

The money from fines goes into the Consolidated Fund i.e. the Government’s general spending pot. The Police and enforcement authorities don’t get to profit from it.

 

[dunnah01]

The opportunity to intervene on a free flowing carriageway may be quite difficult and having a 'one to one' conversation with a multitude of drivers would be impossible. 'After the event' challenges by correspondence are productive in many ways, most speeding offences within the initial offending band are generally disposed of via speed awareness courses which are provided by third parties. The 'owning force' do not gain financially other than funding via their road safety partnerships so they have no money making incentive to conduct speeding detection programs. The deterent benefit is well documented, many attending speed awareness courses are surprised how little they new/understood about driving and pass on those messages to family and friends. So for every encounter the 'deterent' message is multiplied several times; it would be a simple presumption to think if you were taken to task for any motoring issues via a stop check or detection vehicle you would be more careful next time in that locality and so would any others that you told about it. That to me seems to promote road safety and avoiding costly fines, thus quite the opposite of generating income.

There you go again, trying to spoil a tired narrative by providing actual facts and details - outrageous

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[Chrisvh]

But they are not police and not on police business. Local safety camera partnership. None of them hold a current valid warrant card

I am not sure what a “ valid warrant card” has to do with it?