Police checking motorhomes and caravans on M5

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My issue is that the law doesn't match common sense.

I have a 3500 bus, and I tow a 500kg trailer. I have uprated the front and rear brakes. I have put on 225 tyres (from 215). I have installed the VB semi air on the rear axle. I know that if I paid someone a sum of money, then my bus could get uprated to 3850 kilos, so it is clearly safe. But not legal until I pay someone to up-plate it.

It's stupid.

We will up-plate, but Mrs DDJC is going to do a C1 in September, so we can't do it until then, as we both drive it.

Until then, I am confident my bus is safe, so I have no qualms about using it if it is few kilos over. Paying someone a couple of hundred for a sticker and a V5C amendment, will not add to the safety of my bus. My changes have done so.
 
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For people coming to the Malvern show, our local sand and gravel merchant has a public weighbridge.

Avoid first thing in the morning (they need to get the delivery lorries loaded and out), and they have a decent sized yard with loads of space. £12 last time I went.

D.H. Phillips | Sand and Gravel Merchant in Malvern, Worcestershire delivering to all surrounding areas.

D.H. Phillips, Sand and Gravel Merchant in ' . Malvern . ', Worcestershire delivering to all surrounding areas. Home
www.dhphillips.co.uk
 
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Another side to weight of your van? When we bought our Burstner IEXO 736 7.5 mtr A class in 2019 it was rated at 4000kg so at the mot last week it weighed 4100 kg. Fine as I had contacted SV tech not long after what bought it as we wanted some bells and whistles to see about updating it to 4500kg this required checking various items and was done by form filling no mods required. So technically if I had not done the upgrade I could have been stopped and fined. Overweight is overweight its like I was only doing 31 in a 30, becomes I was only doing 38etc. Regulations are there for a reason not just for fun. We were behind a camper on the N 10 in France well loaded as a lot from that country are, when the rear tyre blew out and it ended up on it’s side, fortunately no one was hurt but the amount of gear strewn across the road was unbelievable.
 
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Birdy67 said:
Wish it was that easy. A quick google of Surrey weigh stations brings up zero options. I called the local (Epsom) recycling centre and the guy said he would charge me £60 to weigh our motorhome.

I would love to be weighed fully laden as I'm a little in the dark how close we'd come to being overweight, but finding somewhere to get this done is not easy, particularly if you live in Surrey it seems.
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Think outside the box a bit.....you obviously drive it to places on trips away.....check the internet for weighbridges en route or at your destination. Or as others suggest, ring a few haulage firms up. Where there's a will there's a way and all that (We had a 70 mile round trip to weigh ours, but just did it when we took the van for its fortnightly run to lessen the risk of engine issues)

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DandJ said:
Think outside the box a bit.....you obviously drive it to places on trips away.....check the internet for weighbridges en route or at your destination. Or as others suggest, ring a few haulage firms up. Where there's a will there's a way and all that (We had a 70 mile round trip to weigh ours, but just did it when we took the van for its fortnightly run to lessen the risk of engine issues)
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....and if overweight en route what do you do? - drive home to offload excess?
 
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Do we know if they were checking axle weights or just doing a superficial GVW check?

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Jonno1103 said:
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.
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As an Aygo owner/driver, they are tardis like for a small car, but still a small car even with the seats folded. I can just take a whole weeks fishing gear from a volume perspective, well under on payload.

It think the payload number is pretty good, circa 400kg, so unless the driver had it full of bags of aggregate, I’m surprised they managed to get it overweight.
 
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Birdy67 said:
Wish it was that easy. A quick google of Surrey weigh stations brings up zero options. I called the local (Epsom) recycling centre and the guy said he would charge me £60 to weigh our motorhome.

I would love to be weighed fully laden as I'm a little in the dark how close we'd come to being overweight, but finding somewhere to get this done is not easy, particularly if you live in Surrey it seems.
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I got mine weighed at the ITV station (MOT center) in my town for €11. Done in 15 minutes and was just on 3.500kg but without the missus in the van. So I now have various options.......
 
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I’m happy with weight, document and other checks being made. I’m very unsupportive of the cashing in on motorists concerning speed.

Speed is a symptom of poor driving standards driven by a complete lack of focus on what really contributes to more speeding than anything else, especially on our major trunk routes and motorways; namely lane discipline.

Resources need to be urgently focused on education, detection and prosecution of ‘middle lane drivers’ as it’s beyond a joke now.

Solve this problem and you’d have way fewer issues with speed as journeys become more consistent in time taken.

There are loads and loads of unmanned enforcement points to detect me straying over the speed limit but zero effort put into resolving the pandemic of terrible driving… but these terrible drivers are all okay as they aren’t speeding so that all good, right!!! 🤬

70mph in a well maintained 1970’s car was a reasonable speed. That’s what the law is based on after all! With good road conditions and no middle lane hoggers, with the advancement in car technology, disc brakes, ABS, tech galore, I would advocate a significant increase in speed being safe. 80mph would be very reasonable. ✔️
 
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Carpmart said:
I’m happy with weight, document and other checks being made. I’m very unsupportive of the cashing in on motorists concerning speed.

Speed is a symptom of poor driving standards driven by a complete lack of focus on what really contributes to more speeding than anything else, especially on our major trunk routes and motorways; namely lane discipline.

Resources need to be urgently focused on education, detection and prosecution of ‘middle lane drivers’ as it’s beyond a joke now.

Solve this problem and you’d have way fewer issues with speed as journeys become more consistent in time taken.

There are loads and loads of unmanned enforcement points to detect me straying over the speed limit but zero effort put into resolving the pandemic of terrible driving… but these terrible drivers are all okay as they aren’t speeding so that all good, right!!! 🤬

70mph in a well maintained 1970’s car was a reasonable speed. With good road conditions and no middle lane hoggers, I’d advocate a significant increase in speed being safe. 80mph would be very reasonable. ✔️
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80mph, would that not just mean you'd catch the mlh's faster! :unsure:
 
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Carpmart said:
I’m happy with weight, document and other checks being made. I’m very unsupportive of the cashing in on motorists concerning speed.

Speed is a symptom of poor driving standards driven by a complete lack of focus on what really contributes to more speeding than anything else, especially on our major trunk routes and motorways; namely lane discipline.

Resources need to be urgently focused on education, detection and prosecution of ‘middle lane drivers’ as it’s beyond a joke now.

Solve this problem and you’d have way fewer issues with speed as journeys become more consistent in time taken.

There are loads and loads of unmanned enforcement points to detect me straying over the speed limit but zero effort put into resolving the pandemic of terrible driving… but these terrible drivers are all okay as they aren’t speeding so that all good, right!!! 🤬

70mph in a well maintained 1970’s car was a reasonable speed. That’s what the law is based on after all! With good road conditions and no middle lane hoggers, with the advancement in car technology, disc brakes, ABS, tech galore, I would advocate a significant increase in speed being safe. 80mph would be very reasonable. ✔️
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Often find the lane hoggers going slowly at 40 to 50 mph which indicates they should not be on dual carriageway or motorways in the first place.

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Gellyneck said:
80mph, would that not just mean you'd catch the mlh's faster! :unsure:
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You can’t move to 80mph without addressing the issue causing speeding, bad and grossly inconsiderate driving standards, manifesting in the MLH…

Anyone in any lane other than the inside one needs to have a good reason to be there.

The tech for slowing down the speed on congested motorways is already there with smart motorways everywhere now and I broadly like it. 60mph is a good speed when in congestion and it keeps the motorway flowing much better. BUT 70mph is way too slow in this day and age!
 
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Carpmart said:
You can’t move to 80mph without addressing the issue causing speeding, bad and grossly inconsiderate driving standards, manifesting in the MLH…

Anyone in any lane other than the inside one needs to have a good reason to be there.

The tech for slowing down the speed on congested motorways is already there with smart motorways everywhere now and I broadly like it. 60mph is a good speed when in congestion and it keeps the motorway flowing much better. BUT 70mph is way too slow in this day and age!
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I think 65mph passing a line of trucks is a good reason. It is just above coach limiter speed of 100kph.
 
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Roger S said:
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 :unsure:
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Does it work on ducks? 🙃
 
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All for Pilice checks, years ago had to do some pits in Hemel Hempstead for the directional drillers, had to be done at night so I towed a 3t mini digger on trailer.
On the way back about 3-00am got pulled by a Police car and they did ID check and check to see if the machine had been stolen, as having had 4 excavators stolen plus other plant I was happy they were out checking especially early morning as a lot of plant goes missing, the 20 ton digger I had got stolen at about 4-00 am🤬🤬🤬
 
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Carpmart said:
As an Aygo owner/driver, they are tardis like for a small car, but still a small car even with the seats folded. I can just take a whole weeks fishing gear from a volume perspective, well under on payload.

It think the payload number is pretty good, circa 400kg, so unless the driver had it full of bags of aggregate, I’m surprised they managed to get it overweight.
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It was rammed, full up to the roof behind the front seats and as said a roof box. the rear end was down over the wheels like a 1950's Ford Consul.

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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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Most insurance companies will use it for a case for unroadworty condition. Certainly the broker I use told me when I up plated, it would be a good thing and could even reduce my premium. He also said that in most cases of overloading, insurance would be invalid. I have no knowledge of the legal status but in my past experiences with insurance companies, any available chance of reducing a claim is a fair option
 
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Old Gibber said:
All I can say such people who are not phased by speeding tickets ought to be banned from driving for life not just a couple of years.
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Don"t come to spain then. Until the intro of the plastic licence in 2007 there weren"t even points. Then they introduced them & reviewed after 3 years .so in 2010 they removed the points/fine for Mway/dual carriageway speeding for up to 151kmh & made it a 100e fine only, with 50% discount for nationals/residents. even cruising at 160 kmh(100mph) would only warrant a slightly higher fine,less 50% Whereas for throwing a fag butt out the window it is 6 points & a 600e fine no discount
Old Gibber said:
. Would journeys be any better with many more roads closed due to serious accidents and A&E already overloaded, simply collapsing under the weight of admissions, and obviously far higher insurance premiums?
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if as I have said before no assistance until road is cleared was the norm & you left them to die people would soon be driving far ,far more sensibly.
Old Gibber said:
Unbelievable. So far 56 people have "liked" with this post,
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Just because they have "liked" it doesn"t mean the "like" it but that many use it as a means to let the poster know that having taken the time to write a reply it is used to show they appreciate it but do not necessarily like it.
Barclaybasher said:
electronic tags to stop or catch reoffenders......
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They can be used to deter, stun or eve kill from a central command post.Bit like the Borgs
Birdy67 said:
I would love to be weighed fully laden as I'm a little in the dark how close we'd come to being overweight, but finding somewhere to get this done is not easy,
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come to southern spain 1e at most official weighbridges or even foc at most builders merchants
Carpmart said:
Anyone in any lane other than the inside one needs to have a good reason to be thereto be given a good kicking.
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I"ve corrected that for you(y)
 
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mikeg40 said:
Most insurance companies will use it for a case for unroadworty condition. Certainly the broker I use told me when I up plated, it would be a good thing and could even reduce my premium. He also said that in most cases of overloading, insurance would be invalid. I have no knowledge of the legal status but in my past experiences with insurance companies, any available chance of reducing a claim is a fair option
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In theory yes. But f that were the case in practice, I'd expect there to be some appeals to the financial ombudsman. I cannot find any.

In contrast, I can find loads where the insurer refused to pay out because the insured car had bald tyres.

Indeed, in decision DRN7434677 the insurer was told to pay up for a caravan which was heavier than the maximum the car was rated to tow!!!!! Despite "It therefore does seem more likely than not that the weight of the laden caravan, and the under-capacity of the towing vehicle, was the cause or a contributing cause of the accident."

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Wee Bold Davy said:
Here in Powys they announce online each month exactly where you can expect to find the mobile cameras.
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Likewise in West Yorkshire, I believe all enforcement vehicles are compelled to publish in advance the whereabouts of their vehicles. Could be wrong.🤔
 
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