There is a thread on elsewhere where someone asks what the score is if you are over-weight.
But is it always the driver’s responsibility?
Let me give you a hypothetical situation. A couple of months ago I got a curtain sider loaded. I went on the weighbridge on leaving the premises and logged 43,960kg: Nicely done guys… 40kg under the maximum weight.
I went to our yard, dropped the trailer and left to another job.
Then I got to wonder…
When I was on the weigh-bridge I was actually -VERY- low on fuel (that was the next stop) so I could be under weight at the weigh-bridge – and massively over-weight once fuelled. (As a rule of thumb… 1 Litre of Diesel = 1kg. Therefore, after putting in 560ltr, I’m over 500Kg overweight!)
Likewise, ther guy who picks up the trailer could, quite inadvertantly, be massively over-weight with a full tank.
So, what is the score there? If you pick up a loaded trailer – how are you supposed to know … and what happens with VOSA?
The enforcement dynamic axle weighbridges have a tolerance of 150kg per axle. So you could be up to 900kg over the maximum and still not attract a prosecution.
The unladen weight of the vehicle is the vehicle, full tank and the driver.
So if for instance you weigh in with say 1/4 of a tank (500 litre tank for instance) diesel then you are going to be 375 kgs under your unladen weight.
So if you go onto a bridge after loading and you weigh 43990kgs and then fill up you will then be 44365kgs which puts you over weight.
If I’ve ever got a load on with a tank that’s not full I always make compensation for what fuel I’m going to put in.
I never run over weight even if it’s 50kg over 44 ton I always get something taken off.
It’s my licence and my wallet and I don’t want to be relieved of them. Remember, your the driver and its your choice if you run over weight.
I’d say still the driver’s responsibility. The weighbridge ticket should probably have a time on it with weighs etc and chances are that you would have a receipt again with date and times on for fueling up so if the driver has fully fueled up they’ve put themselves knowingly overweight as they knew they were close to max weight from the weighbridge ticket.
Also if a different unit is used the weights will be different again as they all have varying unladen weights but if the driver who takes the trailer over has a copy of the weighbridge ticket they will still know how close they are to max weight so again their responsibility if they fill their fuel tanks right up and take it overweight. Best idea if swapping units would be to get reweighed with new tractor and trailer combination whether that happens is another matter.
Optimum:
I tried to get clarification on this from DVSA. I was told that being overweight was an " absolute" offence. i.e. there is no defence.
There are actually two defences - one is that you are genuinely on your way to the nearest weighbridge to check the weight and the other is that you are on your way from the nearest weighbridge to the nearest practical place to correct an overload.
The important word there is nearest - both defences would fall down if you were checked by DVSA at a site hundreds of miles from base.
keredwh:
The important word there is nearest - both defences would fall down if you were checked by DVSA at a site hundreds of miles from base.
I think from the place of loading, not your base, would be more correct. ie you should go to the nearest weighbridge from where you were loaded and, logically in most cases, return there to get any excess removed.
keredwh:
The important word there is nearest - both defences would fall down if you were checked by DVSA at a site hundreds of miles from base.
I think from the place of loading, not your base, would be more correct. ie you should go to the nearest weighbridge from where you were loaded and, logically in most cases, return there to get any excess removed.
^^
This. One of our old yards only had a weighbridge big enough for Rigid’s so the artic bulkers that took the stuff away all should of had on board weigher’s but if they were unsure they could go to the scrap yard round the corner and check their weight and get some taken off if needed.
Optimum:
I tried to get clarification on this from DVSA. I was told that being overweight was an " absolute" offence. i.e. there is no defence.
That’s not what is meant by an “absolute offence”. The term means an offence which does not involve mens rea (i.e. “guilty mind/knowledge”). It doesn’t mean there is no defence.
Optimum:
I tried to get clarification on this from DVSA. I was told that being overweight was an " absolute" offence. i.e. there is no defence.
That’s not what is meant by an “absolute offence”. The term means an offence which does not involve mens rea (i.e. “guilty mind/knowledge”). It doesn’t mean there is no defence.
It doesn’t mean no defence but the prosecution only needs to show that the accused performed the prohibited act. It is hard to find a defence for being caught overweight.
We had a bit of a laugh at the Carlsberg brewery one night. There’s a weighbridge on the way out, and a rather fat driver took a full tanker out, and the lorry weighed 44,040kg with him in it, so he wouldn’t take it out. I was the nearest driver, and I’m a slim lad, so I was asked to put my unit under it and weigh the whole lorry with me in it. It came in at bang on 44,000kg, and off I drove, making some comment about eating less doughnuts.
Optimum:
I tried to get clarification on this from DVSA. I was told that being overweight was an " absolute" offence. i.e. there is no defence.
That’s not what is meant by an “absolute offence”. The term means an offence which does not involve mens rea (i.e. “guilty mind/knowledge”). It doesn’t mean there is no defence.
It doesn’t mean no defence but the prosecution only needs to show that the accused performed the prohibited act. It is hard to find a defence for being caught overweight.
Two perfectly valid defences have already been mentioned. There are others.
