Breaking 7.5t limits

We do a traffic action group in Norton St Philip which reports HGV to the police who break the law by using our village as a short cut. This is an ongoing issue and we have sustained much damage to the village and parked vehicles from HGV. All signage is very clear. Please can drivers use the A36 bypass and respect our village. We stopped a driver today who was abusive and shouted. There really is no need for this behaviour.
Thank you

Ready??..3…2…1…GO! :laughing:

I thought only the police and DVSA had powers to stop…

:laughing:

I think I saw this village on TV ages ago ,some really odd villagers ,this would be prior to the weight limit .

“We stopped a driver today”
Exactly what legal powers do you have to stop a HGV driver?I certainly wouldn’t stop,for all I know you could be a group of career criminals after my wagon and goods.

Totally agree - There really is no need for this behaviour. You should leave it to the duly appointed authorities.

Two wrongs don’t make a right. :bulb:

We volunteer on behalf of the police and we send through all HGV reg plates to the Avon and Somerset police who then contact the transport managers. We are perfectly able to stop drivers to ask where they are going and we are able to advise not to proceed and to follow the bypass. Police are also doing stop checks and fining drivers. 14 in first week of July. This is a friendly notification to advise drivers of this. We are not odd merely trying to protect our vehicles and 13th century buildings that are being damaged by HGV.

moondara:
We volunteer on behalf of the police and we send through all HGV reg plates to the Avon and Somerset police who then contact the transport managers. We are perfectly able to stop drivers to ask where they are going and we are able to advise not to proceed and to follow the bypass. Police are also doing stop checks and fining drivers. 14 in first week of July. This is a friendly notification to advise drivers of this. We are not odd merely trying to protect our vehicles and 13th century buildings that are being damaged by HGV.

You maybe “able” to stop hgvs but what leagal right to you have to command a HGV to stop?
If you ordered a Washing machine and it came to be delivered in a 18t vehicle would you meet it outside of the weight limit and carry it to your property?
For the record I’ve never been within 50 miles of this place,I’m just curious.

We don’t command them to stop at all, most drivers carry on through. If they are loading or unloading in the village they are allowed too. This is why we usually try and find our where they are going, if that is the case then obviously we don’t report them

moondara:
We don’t command them to stop at all, most drivers carry on through. If they are loading or unloading in the village they are allowed too. This is why we usually try and find our where they are going, if that is the case then obviously we don’t report them

Ah,so you don’t mind these big horrible lorries wrecking your village and cars if they are delivering to you but if they are not it’s unacceptable ?!

Most deliveries are done in 7.5 t or less. Villagers don’t tend to get large freight delivered so that is a stupid response.

If they are loading or unloading in the village they are allowed too

its one of them, we dont want lgv’s coming through our village :unamused: , but if your delivering then ok you can come in :unamused:,

tell you what to do, as it seems you lot must have a lot of time on your hands, stop every truck that goes through and just see how many speak english :sunglasses: :grimacing:

da da lol

burnley-si:

If they are loading or unloading in the village they are allowed too

its one of them, we dont want lgv’s coming through our village :unamused: , but if your delivering then ok you can come in :unamused:,

To be fair to the villagers, I can understand their point of view.

Clearly it is in no ones interest for over-weight (fatty) or oversized vehicles to use unsuitable routes - as has been highlighted it can lead to avoidable damage to property.

And yes, deliveries accepted by virtue of the ‘need’ to use the routes (access only?).

At the end of the day, if the roads are signed properly, and alternatives are available, it is down to the drivers/route planners to avoid restrictions. The restrictions are adopted and there for a necessary purpose.

However, the villagers should not need to be put in this position of having to monitor and report (and indeed, they have no powers to stop - someone over zealous on both sides could get seriously hurt). This is one knock-on effect of fewer police officers; and some poor wage/bonus incentives encouraging drivers to not care, or to care about salary over safety/restrictions.

And as mentioned above, I bet many don’t have english as a first or second language, and almost certainly didn’t gain their licence in the UK.

Last time I looked, the 7.5T weight prohibition signs were exactly the same as in any other European country - i.e. a red circle on a white background with a diagram of a lorry and “7.5T” in bold, black letters. “No speaka-da-English” really is irrelevant here.

moondara:
We are perfectly able to stop drivers to ask where they are going

No you aren’t.

  1. Checks on your vehicle
    As a commercial driver, you might be asked to stop by the police or a Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) officer. They can stop lorries, buses and coaches.

gov.uk/roadside-vehicle-che … ur-vehicle

Note that this states “you might be asked to stop by the police or a Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) officer”, and not “you might be asked to stop by the police or a Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) officer or a bunch of senile old coffin-dodging NIMBYs with nothing better to do”.

Please abide by the law yourselves before trying to enforce it.

moondara:
…We are perfectly able to stop drivers to ask where they are going …

Really? Out of curiosity can I ask how? How do you stop these 44 tonne HGV`s? Do you wave / flag them down? Do you step out in front of them? Do you direct them to pull over to the side of the road or guide them into a lay-bye? Are you wearing the ubiquitous Hi-Viz regalia that is very close too, but not quite the same, as The Police wear? Could you be misconstrued by an HGV driver(particularly a foreign driver) as a Police Officer by means of what you wear?
Have the Police really told you to do this or are you community minded (nothing wrong with that) and have taken it upon yourselves to do this? A member or members of the general public has / have no legal right to obstruct, alter, or change the flow, speed or direction of traffic unless in an emergency.

A lollipop lady can stop traffic, a (zb) PCSO cannot…"A PCSO has Power to control traffic for purposes other than escorting a load of exceptional dimensions: Powers to direct traffic (for purposes other than escorting loads of exceptional dimensions) based on the powers constables have under sections 35 and 37 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. It also gives PCSOs the power to direct traffic for the purposes of conducting a traffic survey. PCSOs designated under this paragraph must also be designated with powers under paragraph 3A of Schedule 4 to the Police Reform Act.
Paragraph 11B of Schedule 4 to the Police Reform Act 2002 (inserted by paragraph 10 of Schedule 8 to the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005).

Do you have some sort of insurance protecting you from any claim that may come from damage etc caused by your (possibly illegal) actions?

Have you seriously thought this through?

moondara:
We don’t command them to stop at all, most drivers carry on through. If they are loading or unloading in the village they are allowed too. This is why we usually try and find our where they are going, if that is the case then obviously we don’t report them

You may like to take the moral high ground and pretend that you have the powers to do the Police’s job for them (you don’t, by the way, despite what you and your busybody friends might think), but here’s something for you to chew over and discuss next time you’re having a coffee morning down at the village hall.

The haulage industry is quite a rough and tumble kind of place. There are a lot of people driving trucks who have aggression problems and quick tempers. If you keep attempting to stop trucks that you think are breaking the weight limit in your village, then sooner or later you are going to do your little routine to the wrong truck with the wrong driver, and you will learn a very hard lesson from one of the industry’s loose cannon.

I’m not saying it’s right, but that’s how it is. And you will have nobody to blame other than yourself.