Police checking motorhomes and caravans on M5

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Spriddler said:
My m/h stays ready to go, fully loaded with the same stuff for every trip except for adding clothes and basic fresh food. Fully loaded the weighbridge weight leaves me a spare 130kg of payload so it's highly unlikely that I'll ever exceed my max permissible. I don't treat it like a garden shed or keep piling more 'essential' or 'handy' stuff into it as if the max permissible was a target. In fact, after the first couple of naïve trips, 25+ years ago, loaded with 'must have' stuff I tended to gradually remove much of it after finding that I never needed it.
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130kg means nowt unless you know where to put it - ooh eer 😂
 
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Barclaybasher said:
I'm surprised the authorities (tax collectors) haven't introduced MOTs for caravans and trailers.
Not an MOT issue but many must be running on original tyres....
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I would certainly welcome this on safety grounds. So many caravans hitched up and considered ready to go after a very cursorary inspection.
 
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We were on a local Centre CC rally years back. On the Sunday one guy lost his van off the hitch before he got to the road. The caravan sat there with the tow hitch apparently trying to lock onto a satellite but only after clobbering the back of his Volvo causing significant damage.
 
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Mleabon said:
Lastly , (I don't know the answer) do all the immigrants that have learnt to drive in the 3rd world have to pass a British driving test to drive here?
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After one year of living in the UK you are required to either take a driving test or exchange your (full) foreign DL for a UK one.
There is a comprehensive list of countries DL's that can be exchanged for a full UK license.

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1967bowesj said:
No so much for VWE as he’s is now suspended from upplating while he gets reassessment for the necessary certifications
Not sure why but his certificate was revoked
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Where/how did you find this out?
 
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mikeg40 said:
payload is serious problem with dealers not interested in telling potential buyers about it and most hire companies not even mentioning it. overweight vans are common and I've said for years that it was only a matter of time before the authorities realised how much money could be made. vehicle insurance is also invalid if the van is found to be overweight - potentially a very expensive accident. how many 6 berth hire vans are under 3500kg?
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There is usually an insurance requirement to keep a vehicle in a roadworthy condition. If you check the ombudsman website, you can find a number of instances where an insurance payout was denied because of illegal tyres, but I cannot find any where it was denied because of vehicle weight. https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decisions-case-studies
Barclaybasher said:
I'm surprised the authorities (tax collectors) haven't introduced MOTs for caravans and trailers.
Not an MOT issue but many must be running on original tyres....
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The last time I looked at the evidence, people towing caravans and other trailers were statistically less likely to be involved in killed or serious injury incidents. So there has not been enough evidence to suggest that a testing regime for trailers would improve safety. A caravan MOT would not stop the idiots who overload the caravan, or don't understand noseweight.
 
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Talking of weights. Poor George Russell (Mercedes) disqualified after winning at Spa. He was 1.75kg Underweight.

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DT said:
Talking of weights. Poor George Russell (Mercedes) disqualified after winning at Spa. He was 1.75kg Underweight.
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Now you're complicating GVW with Unladen Weight :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:

He was OK for weight at the end of the race but then under weight when they took out the remaining fuel.
 
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Tigger-Tim said:
There is usually an insurance requirement to keep a vehicle in a roadworthy condition. If you check the ombudsman website, you can find a number of instances where an insurance payout was denied because of illegal tyres, but I cannot find any where it was denied because of vehicle weight. https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decisions-case-studies

The last time I looked at the evidence, people towing caravans and other trailers were statistically less likely to be involved in killed or serious injury incidents. So there has not been enough evidence to suggest that a testing regime for trailers would improve safety. A caravan MOT would not stop the idiots who overload the caravan, or don't understand noseweight.
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But what about injury to others?

My Grandmother was critically injured by a caravan that became unhitched from the towing vehicle. No damage to caravan nor towing vehicle - cause of accident was found to be faulty hitch and safety chain not attached correctly.

If there had been an MOT type test for the caravan the faulty hitch may have been spotted.
 
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Northernraider said:
Put sleeping pills in their tea
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Nah….. we have a problem with vehicles speeding through the village. They started checking after we put up a couple of strategically placed solar powered speed signs which collect data and sent them 6 months worth.
 
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Captain Yoghurtpot said:
So a vehicle rated at 3000kg max gvw, loaded at 4000kg is OK then.
The braking distance required alone is enough to make you think if seriously overloaded, let alone make the vehicle less stable.
I think this sort of check is long overdue in some sense, and will get people educated to understand exactly what they can and should do regarding weight restrictions, and realise they can't take everything including the portable jacuzzi away with them.
Just my opinion though,ta.
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No but a vehicle rated at 3500kg gvw can be uprated to 3850kg by filling in a few forms with DVLA.

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The oddest thing around here is that many of those caught by the mobile camera speeding are residents of the village, or the next who have campaigning to bring speeds down.

It's a known fact that when on familiar home turf, people are less careful than where they are less sure of the road.

Two villages away, one of the most vocal complainants about others speeding got clocked and stopped by the police doing 43mph in the 30mph next village. No-one laughed.
 
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Towat101 said:
No but a vehicle rated at 3500kg gvw can be uprated to 3850kg by filling in a few forms with DVLA.
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Not all can be uprated to 3850 without modification. Also not much help if you don’t have a C1. Anyone younger than 45 is unlikely to have a C1 and those of us over 70 have to jump through medical hoops to keep it. I am not going to do another stress test to keep my C1 next year, far too stressful.
 
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meanders said:
The oddest thing around here is that many of those caught by the mobile camera speeding are residents of the village, or the next who have campaigning to bring speeds down.

It's a known fact that when on familiar home turf, people are less careful than where they are less sure of the road.

Two villages away, one of the most vocal complainants about others speeding got clocked and stopped by the police doing 43mph in the 30mph next village. No-one laughed.
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Same thing happened where I used to live. The first victim was the very vocal chairman of the PC who used to go out of his way to upset people. Again, nobody laughed
 
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Towat101 said:
No but a vehicle rated at 3500kg gvw can be uprated to 3850kg by filling in a few forms with DVLA.
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Only if it was originally built on a 3850kg chassis and then down plated (to 3500kg) by the manufacturer to allow it to be driven on a cat. B license.

Otherwise it will need upgrading, usually tyres with a high enough load rating and possibly semi air suspension on the rear axle.
 
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DuxDeluxe said:
Nah….. we have a problem with vehicles speeding through the village. They started checking after we put up a couple of strategically placed solar powered speed signs which collect data and sent them 6 months worth.
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It's well known Enforcement people say local people don't speed in their own villages/town but quite often do in others towns or villages.

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Well when I was Chairman of a council we invited Suffolk Highways to a meeting primarily about bad road conditions ( there are more miles of roads in Suffolk than on Cyprus)!! He also said these speeding habits were from their statistics,I assume that comes from speed checks collating and working with councils.
 
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David and Sally said:
I agree. When I did speed checks it was mainly the locals we caught.
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When I was a primary school governor, parents would complain that dangerous driving and parking made it harder for the children to walk or cycle to school. The bad driving and parking was almost always parents. In some cases, the same ones who had been complaining!
 
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