Stopped by the police

[Coastal Cruiser.]

Some folk just like to moan

Definitely then the first to be into the police when it all goes wrong!

 

[Stoosal]

I’m sure the risk of being seriously injured or killed on the road by a motorist not following regulations is probably higher than dying if your car is vandalised. It’s all relative. Fire service spend their time checking buildings are complying with regs….is that petty as well or useful safeguard to keep people safe?

 

[Nigel P]

The fairly over-used claim that the police are wasting their time catching speeders instead of 'real criminals', because it is easy, is simply not born out by the facts. Around 86% of all motoring offences are excess speed offences and 96%+ are camera detected. Which would suggest the bobby with laser at the side of the road is about as common as the proverbial rocking horse poo. As others have already said the 'reason' for a stop is often not the real reason at all but a mechanism to enquire about other matters which often turn up 'real criminals'.

 

[Haig]

Standard reply…..’not got anything better to do’?

Yep, but x amount of accidents involving motorhomes and caravans so we’re raising the safety profile.

Reasonable?

Last week we were traveling to Lincolnshire for a break in the MH on the A38 when we were flagged down by a police motorcycle and told to follow him to a service station (A51), there was a very big police set up and we were told that were concentrating on MH and caravans for spot checks, anyway to cut a long story short we had all our docs checked and were then weighed, fortunately we were fine for both axle and overall weight and actually had 250kg to spare but were told by the police that they had already had several failures that morning and that the checking of MHs and caravans will likely increase as we approach the holiday season.

How many motorhomers have fully loaded their vehicle including passengers and taken it to a weighbridge

 

[Pausim]

How many motorhomers have fully loaded their vehicle including passengers and taken it to a weighbridge

Me

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[Sapper520]

Didn’t have my wife in when I went, but loaded for touring, full fuel and some water…..think it was a quarter but could have been more.

Unlikely to need to do it again, until we start putting our bikes on the back.

350kgs + spare…..my wife is definitely NOT that large.

 

[nicholsong]

How many motorhomers have fully loaded their vehicle including passengers and taken it to a weighbridge

Every year before first trip, with full fuel, water and gas. OH stays outside to direct my wheels onto edge of front and back of weighbridge for axles, but we add her known weight in after.

 

[Neil S]

How many motorhomers have fully loaded their vehicle including passengers and taken it to a weighbridge

I did regularly before leaving on a long trip when we had our last Motorhome
And also now with our car and caravan
Local weighbridge only charges if you want printout if you just want know your weight it’s free

 

[Stoosal]

How many motorhomers have fully loaded their vehicle including passengers and taken it to a weighbridge

Me. Tells me total weight, axle weights, weight distribution and keeps on the right side of legal. All for £6.

 

[Salsboy]

Last week we were traveling to Lincolnshire for a break in the MH on the A38 when we were flagged down by a police motorcycle and told to follow him to a service station (A51), there was a very big police set up and we were told that were concentrating on MH and caravans for spot checks, anyway to cut a long story short we had all our docs checked and were then weighed, fortunately we were fine for both axle and overall weight and actually had 250kg to spare but were told by the police that they had already had several failures that morning and that the checking of MHs and caravans will likely increase as we approach the holiday season.

Tim, What police force was this, please. Just so I can avoid their area. Obviously some senior officer has had a brilliant idea for an initiative.

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[tonyidle]

Complaints should be about the lack of Police numbers. 10,000 fewer than 10 years or so ago. That might be the reason so few are on the streets (and so few dedicated Traffic Officers).

 

[Tony50]

Me

And I have weighed mine fully loaded, now we are moving down to 3500 kg , it will instill in us I'm sure a
" no point taking stuff on holiday that we are unlikely to use !! " Like we have been.

 

[bigtwin]

How many motorhomers have fully loaded their vehicle including passengers and taken it to a weighbridge

Me, how else are you going to know if you’ll be legal in holiday trim?

Once you’ve done it, it’s easy enough to have a fairly accurate guesstimate of your legality on future trips.

Ian

 

[Coastal Cruiser.]

How many motorhomers have fully loaded their vehicle including passengers and taken it to a weighbridge

Me, why wouldn’t you, other countries may not be as lax as the UK and will no doubt be giving out larger fines.

 

[gus-lopez]

The fairly over-used claim that the police are wasting their time catching speeders instead of 'real criminals', because it is easy, is simply not born out by the facts. Around 86% of all motoring offences are excess speed offences and 96%+ are camera detected. Which would suggest the bobby with laser at the side of the road is about as common as the proverbial rocking horse poo. As others have already said the 'reason' for a stop is often not the real reason at all but a mechanism to enquire about other matters which often turn up 'real criminals'.

recent fines at my daughter's local court ,67% were for speeding with cheapest fine all in with costs ,etc at £240 & dearest in to the 000's. 16,5% were using illegal e scooters whish cost them 9 points & fines around £1500. The other 2 offences were dealing in crack & metamphetamines for a flat £80 or assault for £120 ? Looks better to be dealing & battering & far cheaper? Exactly them same for 3 weeks running. Just a piss take against motorists.

How many motorhomers have fully loaded their vehicle including passengers and taken it to a weighbridge

Me .I've a tonne to play with before loading & it's only when returning the daughter's old tat that I weigh on the way out. 160kgs under when I left this year

Me, why wouldn’t you, other countries may not be as lax as the UK and will no doubt be giving out larger fines.

One region in spain, can't remember which, used to charge overweight at 50€ for each kilo.
Others are based on % overweight.
Another you have to watch is they also do not base "overloading " on the maximum gross weight. Here in spain all vehicles have an 'unladen weight'. (UL)
Even if yours is foreign ,if they want they can find out what the equivalent UL would be in spain.
so if you have a van that has a MAM of 3500kgs & an Unladen weight of 2800kgs then if you are say 250kgs overweight it is a % of 700kgs. The difference between MAM & UL, so 35% overweight.
It is logical as they say if the fixed weight of the van including all anciliaries is 2800kgs you only can ever have 700kgs of weight to play with ; not 3500kgs. & no, you can't argue that you can reduce the 2800kgs by removing this that & the other because in spain you can't without removing them legally from the paperwork of the homologated vehicle

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[gpat]

The fairly over-used claim that the police are wasting their time catching speeders instead of 'real criminals', because it is easy, is simply not born out by the facts. Around 86% of all motoring offences are excess speed offences and 96%+ are camera detected. Which would suggest the bobby with laser at the side of the road is about as common as the proverbial rocking horse poo. As others have already said the 'reason' for a stop is often not the real reason at all but a mechanism to enquire about other matters which often turn up 'real criminals'.

So real criminals drive overloaded motorhomes?

Yes I get your other points but pulling in motorhomes 100kg overloaded or dealing with gangs and drug dealers. Mmmmm? Not sure if they have their resources perfectly balanced. Sounds like a easy target to me.

Not that I am defending people driving dangerous vehicles. Life's dilemmas I suppose.

 

[Stoosal]

So real criminals drive overloaded motorhomes?

Yes I get your other points but pulling in motorhomes 100kg overloaded or dealing with gangs and drug dealers. Mmmmm? Not sure if they have their resources perfectly balanced. Sounds like a easy target to me.

Not that I am defending people driving dangerous vehicles. Life's dilemmas I suppose.

How do you know how much, or if they are overloaded, if you don’t weigh them.....?

 

[gpat]

How do you know how much, or if they are overloaded, if you don’t weigh them.....?

Absolutely. I dont disagree. It just seems that deaths by marginally overloaded motorhomes is less of a probability than being shot at the moment.
I did say it was a dilemma.

 

[TonyEmm]

Tim, What police force was this, please. Just so I can avoid their area. Obviously some senior officer has had a brilliant idea for an initiative.

Just stay legal! Simples really….

 

[TonyEmm]

Stopped and checked for documents etc. is one thing. Getting taken to a service station to be weighed is another! Surely the Police have bigger priorities ?

Why? The Roads Policing Units and DVSA enforcement are there to do exactly that. It’s their job!

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[Pausim]

So real criminals drive overloaded motorhomes?

Yes I get your other points but pulling in motorhomes 100kg overloaded or dealing with gangs and drug dealers. Mmmmm? Not sure if they have their resources perfectly balanced. Sounds like a easy target to me.

Not that I am defending people driving dangerous vehicles. Life's dilemmas I suppose.

I would be surprised if they took action over a 100kg overload. The DVSA guidance allows 5% and I would be surprised if the Police were different. The Government guidelines are here:

DVSA roadside checks: fines and financial deposits

www.gov.uk

The relevant extract is:

 

[Coastal Cruiser.]

recent fines at my daughter's local court ,67% were for speeding with cheapest fine all in with costs ,etc at £240 & dearest in to the 000's. 16,5% were using illegal e scooters whish cost them 9 points & fines around £1500. The other 2 offences were dealing in crack & metamphetamines for a flat £80 or assault for £120 ? Looks better to be dealing & battering & far cheaper? Exactly them same for 3 weeks running. Just a piss take against motorists.

I look at the local court roundup in the paper and the sentence they hand out for drug dealers and people assaulting others is disgusting, anyone who gets caught with drugs should automatically be given at least a 5 stretch and more if they have a large quantity on thrm.
Same as knife crime very rarely they get banged up normally a suspended for carrying.
The courts in this country are shite and I feel sorry for police who catch criminals only to see them told off and let out
I know the yanks have a messed up country but they have the right idea on prisons.

 

[wp1234]

Last week we were traveling to Lincolnshire for a break in the MH on the A38 when we were flagged down by a police motorcycle and told to follow him to a service station (A51), there was a very big police set up and we were told that were concentrating on MH and caravans for spot checks, anyway to cut a long story short we had all our docs checked and were then weighed, fortunately we were fine for both axle and overall weight and actually had 250kg to spare but were told by the police that they had already had several failures that morning and that the checking of MHs and caravans will likely increase as we approach the holiday season.

Good to hear the Police are tackling the real big time crime issues in the UK ….

 

[Btg]

Had my motorhome down graded to 3500 it was 4250 just so my wife could drive if I load it 750 over the 3500 now this does not make it dangerous just if my wife’s driving she needs a c1 licence

 

[JockandRita]

How many motorhomers have fully loaded their vehicle including passengers and taken it to a weighbridge

Me

Didn’t have my wife in when I went, but loaded for touring, full fuel and some water…..think it was a quarter but could have been more.

Unlikely to need to do it again, until we start putting our bikes on the back.

350kgs + spare…..my wife is definitely NOT that large.

Every year before first trip, with full fuel, water and gas. OH stays outside to direct my wheels onto edge of front and back of weighbridge for axles, but we add her known weight in after.

I did regularly before leaving on a long trip when we had our last Motorhome
And also now with our car and caravan
Local weighbridge only charges if you want printout if you just want know your weight it’s free

Me. Tells me total weight, axle weights, weight distribution and keeps on the right side of legal. All for £6.

And I have weighed mine fully loaded, now we are moving down to 3500 kg , it will instill in us I'm sure a
" no point taking stuff on holiday that we are unlikely to use !! " Like we have been.

Me, how else are you going to know if you’ll be legal in holiday trim?

Once you’ve done it, it’s easy enough to have a fairly accurate guesstimate of your legality on future trips.

Ian

Me, why wouldn’t you, other countries may not be as lax as the UK and will no doubt be giving out larger fines.

Me .I've a tonne to play with before loading & it's only when returning the daughter's old tat that I weigh on the way out. 160kgs under when I left this year

And you can add me to the long list too. I do it annually at the Sawtry DVSA Weighbridge, just off the A1M southbound.

Even in full holiday mode, we still have a tonne spare.

(Edited to add a photo of last year's weigh-in).

Cheers,

Jock.

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[SpeedyDux]

On paper, ours has a MIRO of 2795 Kg. Add 70 kg of optional extras. (Say) 50 litres of fresh water + 20 litres in the Truma boiler. Total 2935 Kg before the two of us (110 Kg for both us and the Budgie) and our stuff (unknown weight) is loaded.

On my figures, our nominal payload is calculated at 565 Kg. Unless we carry more than 455 Kg of stuff on tour (highly unlikely) I doubt we will be overloaded. It's a 5.4m Van and you can only put a limited amount of stuff inside. We don't carry bikes.

The nearest Council weighbridge open to the public has a rule that everyone on that site must have footwear with steel toecaps. Having to buy a pair like that, which will be worn once only, does put me off.

I suppose I could take everything out of the Van again and weigh each item and make a spreadsheet. Not bothered enough to do that.

The only times I have been stopped by the UK Police or the Gendarmerie have been for random breath testing. I assume that they profiled me as a typical boozy older Brit, because I was singled out. Passed both times.

 

[The Wino]

Had my motorhome down graded to 3500 it was 4250 just so my wife could drive if I load it 750 over the 3500 now this does not make it dangerous just if my wife’s driving she needs a c1 licence

It's your choice then either get below 3500 or accept a fine if caught. You could have kept the higher weight and booked a course for the wife.

 

[Pausim]

On paper, ours has a MIRO of 2795 Kg. Add 70 kg of optional extras. (Say) 50 litres of fresh water + 20 litres in the Truma boiler. Total 2935 Kg before the two of us (110 Kg for both us and the Budgie) and our stuff (unknown weight) is loaded.

On my figures, our nominal payload is calculated at 565 Kg. Unless we carry more than 455 Kg of stuff on tour (highly unlikely) I doubt we will be overloaded. It's a 5.4m Van and you can only put a limited amount of stuff inside. We don't carry bikes.

The nearest Council weighbridge open to the public has a rule that everyone on that site must have footwear with steel toecaps. Having to buy a pair like that, which will be worn once only, does put me off.

I suppose I could take everything out of the Van again and weigh each item and make a spreadsheet. Not bothered enough to do that.

The only times I have been stopped by the UK Police or the Gendarmerie have been for random breath testing. I assume that they profiled me as a typical boozy older Brit, because I was singled out. Passed both times.

Don’t forget the 140kg (5%) that manufacturers are allowed on their figures, some of them make full use of the allowance e.g Carthago.

 

[SpeedyDux]

Don’t forget the 140kg (5%) that manufacturers are allowed on their figures, some of them make full use of the allowance e.g Carthago.

That could well be the case especially with the larger coachbuilts and A Class MHs where the 3500 Kg MAM is always going to be very tight. I understand that some manufacturers have been reducing the weight of the furniture but there is only so much that can be done before it becomes too flimsy.

I have seen figures showing that the MIRO difference between a 5.4 m Ducato PVC and 6.4 m PVC is an additional 280 Kg. Presumably due to all that extra steel body and more furniture. On paper, very popular 6.4 m PVCs already have quite tight payloads. Add lots of bells and whistles, plus 4 occupants, the available payload becomes inadequate so 6.4 m vans are more likely to be overloaded unless a lot of care is taken. 5.99 m Ducato PVCs are the sweet spot for 3500 Kg.

 

[JJ]

I have no idea what my payload is...

My van is a 4 berth and there is only me so I don't feel I have anything to worry about...

...and anyhow I have only been weighed once (by mistake) in fifty years.

JJ

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