Police checking motorhomes and caravans on M5

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barsteward said:
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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Which is utterly ridiculous. If you're speeding, you're breaking the law. If you're overweight, you're breaking the law. The deterrent should be that you don't know if you're going to be caught, therefore you abide by the law. Not "Ooh there's a big sign saying 'SPEED CAMERA', I'll slow down today."
Policing by Consent ... load of baloney.

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Thanks to a suggestion from DDJC I dropped into the Recycling Centre at Sevenoaks just off of junction 5 of the M25 on Saturday. They were officially shut but the guys were happy to let me drive onto the weighbridge and took a photo of the screen showing my weight. I gave him a tenner for being so accommodating which he seemed chuffed about.

For those interested, ours is a Roller Team Pegaso 740 A Class, we had a full tank of diesel, about 10l of water, and both my Wife and I stayed in the vehiicle. There were no bikes on the back and we didn't have much in the way of provisions or extra clothes as it was just a quick overnighter. We're rated to 3,650 kg and we weighed in at 3,380kg, so around 270kg to spare.

That's pretty reassuring as even with a full water tank and bikes on the back we'd have around 100kg to spare I guess.
 
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According to the makers manual for our Lunar Roadstar 720 we have a Payload capacity of 605Kgs.

If towing our Smart Car 451, how does this affect the payload?
 
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Birdy67 said:
Thanks to a suggestion from DDJC I dropped into the Recycling Centre at Sevenoaks just off of junction 5 of the M25 on Saturday. They were officially shut but the guys were happy to let me drive onto the weighbridge and took a photo of the screen showing my weight. I gave him a tenner for being so accommodating which he seemed chuffed about.

For those interested, ours is a Roller Team Pegaso 740 A Class, we had a full tank of diesel, about 10l of water, and both my Wife and I stayed in the vehiicle. There were no bikes on the back and we didn't have much in the way of provisions or extra clothes as it was just a quick overnighter. We're rated to 3,650 kg and we weighed in at 3,380kg, so around 270kg to spare.

That's pretty reassuring as even with a full water tank and bikes on the back we'd have around 100kg to spare I guess.
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I suspect that you'd be illegal with an overweight rear axle when loaded with bikes and garage stuff hanging off the back
 
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StitchUp said:
According to the makers manual for our Lunar Roadstar 720 we have a Payload capacity of 605Kgs.

If towing our Smart Car 451, how does this affect the payload?
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Multiply your nose weight by about 1.3 and subtract it from your rear axle allowance and subtract your nose weight from your GVW allowance. Also make sure your total train weight is within allowance.

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dunnah01 said:
I suspect that you'd be illegal with an overweight rear axle when loaded with bikes and garage stuff hanging off the back
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My bikes weigh 8.5kg (carbon road bike) and 11.2kg (hybrid) respectively. Not sure how that would put us overweight given the remaining payload we have?
 
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dunnah01 said:
Multiply your nose weight by about 1.3 and subtract it from your rear axle allowance and subtract your nose weight from your GVW allowance. Also make sure your total train weight is within allowance.
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with most tow frames there is very little nose weight, maybe half the frame weight or less as the heavier end is attached to the car and hinged. The biggest hit on payload for towing is the weight of the towbar. The acle load of this increases the further from the centre of the rear axle that the overhang is
 
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DVSA are very tight with the data they supply about WIMS, but a freedom of information request gave this for 2012

LGV Up To 3500kg Tested 2,177 prohibited 1,934 fail percentage 88.84%

over by 0-5% 3
over by 5-10% 261
over by 10-15% 267
over by 15-30% 504
OVER by 30% 138
OVER by 1 TONNE or more 12
 
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Birdy67 said:
My bikes weigh 8.5kg (carbon road bike) and 11.2kg (hybrid) respectively. Not sure how that would put us overweight given the remaining payload we have?
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If you consider the weight of the vehicle in two different ways. First is the overall weight of the vehicle or gross vehicle weight ie 3380kgs.

Secondly is the individual weights on the front and rear axles. Whilst knowing the gvw is one thing you can still be under the max gvw but be overweight on one of the axles (usually the rear one).

The only way to really know is to get axle weights. Motorhomes with bikes on rear and large garages are susceptible to being overweight on the rear axle.
 
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Stoosal said:
If you consider the weight of the vehicle in two different ways. First is the overall weight of the vehicle or gross vehicle weight ie 3380kgs.

Secondly is the individual weights on the front and rear axles. Whilst knowing the gvw is one thing you can still be under the max gvw but be overweight on one of the axles (usually the rear one).

The only way to really know is to get axle weights. Motorhomes with bikes on rear and large garages are susceptible to being overweight on the rear axle.
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Well as things stand we are 270kg underweight overall. I'm not sure I need to rush back to check the rear axle as I can't imagine it'll be close if our total payload is only 550kg and we still have around half unused.

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Known WIMS locations
between J16 and Watford Gap Northbound
under the roundabout going north at carlisle just before todhills.junction 44
westbound at clackett lane on the M25
on the forfar bypass n/b
on the a9 n/b at daviot
carlisle j44 n/b
m6 n/b between j13 and 14
Crick,
Perry Bar,
Clackett Lane,
Dartford,
Stafford,
Carlisle
Portsmouth

So far there are about 30 locations installed but not all switched on

Anyone know of others?
 
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StitchUp said:
According to the makers manual for our Lunar Roadstar 720 we have a Payload capacity of 605Kgs.

If towing our Smart Car 451, how does this affect the payload?
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Just deduct the weight of the tow bar, usually around 30kg. Then check your train weight, this is the combination of your moho and tow car - which is classed as a trailer when on an A frame. Your train weight will probably be between 4500 - 5000kg... giving you 1000 -1500kg for towing, more than enough for Smart car which is in the region of 760 - 930kg dependant on age and spec.
 
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Puddleduck said:
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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In Germany we have exactly that, all Trailers,Caravans etc have their own registration, TÜV (mot) and insurance.....tyres etc come under the same rules as a car/ mh etc...so 7 years advisory with maybe a reduced speed limit and 10 years is fail, regardless of Condition...
Works for me....
 
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TheBig1 said:
with most tow frames there is very little nose weight, maybe half the frame weight or less as the heavier end is attached to the car and hinged. The biggest hit on payload for towing is the weight of the towbar. The acle load of this increases the further from the centre of the rear axle that the overhang is
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Doesn't say if a-frame or trailer though.
 
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Birdy67 said:
Well as things stand we are 270kg underweight overall. I'm not sure I need to rush back to check the rear axle as I can't imagine it'll be close if our total payload is only 550kg and we still have around half unused.
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We run at about 500kg under GVW but only have about 50kg spare on the rear axle in full Calais Dover trim with full alcohol allowance for 2 in the tiny garage.

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StitchUp said:
According to the makers manual for our Lunar Roadstar 720 we have a Payload capacity of 605Kgs.

If towing our Smart Car 451, how does this affect the payload?
Click to expand...
you only have to worry about the nose weight on the towbar and the overall gross train weight.
 
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dunnah01 said:
Multiply your nose weight by about 1.3 and subtract it from your rear axle allowance and subtract your nose weight from your GVW allowance. Also make sure your total train weight is within allowance.
Click to expand...
No real nose weight with a toad - just the weight of one end of the A frame.
 
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