I had one of those stupid coffee room chats with a guy the other day about what you can and cant drive.
So here was the question whats the heaviest thing you can drive on the road on a non hgv licence I.E. 7.5 ton licence.
I’ll wait a day or two to see if any of you come up with what we came up with, i’m probably wrong but i’ll see what you say first.
My answer would be 8250kg. (Vehicle at 7500kg and trailer of not more than 750kg)
over here in the states, a car license is good up to 26000 lbs (11793 kgs) whether it be a single or combination vehicle.
As above but it also depends when you passed your car test people who passed after 1999? can only drive up to 3500kg.
The Government website, has all the information on what someone may or may not drive on a particular licence, including any exemptions, entitlements, etc,
The obsolete terms HGV and PSV are not used, that would be totally misleading.
I always thought you could drive a crane on a car licence as it is not a goods vehicle, So i suppose that would be the heaviest.
smcaul:
I always thought you could drive a crane on a car licence as it is not a goods vehicle, So i suppose that would be the heaviest.
You were, up until the end of 1998, now you would need the appropriate licence for the weight of the crane ie class C if it weighed over 7.5 tonnes. Below is a link to the DVLA exempted vehicle section, it states that you can drive a pre-1960 goods vehicle, subject to conditions, on a category B licence regardless of date of pass:
Its got to be a “road roller” for laying Tarmac 
Also an agri tractor and trailer can gross 24 tonnes legally so maybe it could be this
There is a special category for road rollers, category G, so requires another test.
Given this exemption from the DVLA site.
goods vehicle which is not used on public roads or, if it is so used during any calendar week -
is used only in passing from land in the occupation of a person keeping the vehicle to other land in the occupation of that person, and
is not used on public roads for distances exceeding an aggregate of 9.7 kilometres in that calendar week;
That would mean you could drive 44 tonnes on a category B licence provided you complied with the above. Well that’s how I read it.
Coffeeholic:
Given this exemption from the DVLA site.goods vehicle which is not used on public roads or, if it is so used during any calendar week -
is used only in passing from land in the occupation of a person keeping the vehicle to other land in the occupation of that person, and
is not used on public roads for distances exceeding an aggregate of 9.7 kilometres in that calendar week;
That would mean you could drive 44 tonnes on a category B licence provided you complied with the above. Well that’s how I read it.
Technically, wouldn’t this also include an abnormal load ie 150 tonnes, although in reality this situation would be ridiculous.
I guess it would.
If you passed your test before the 1st January 1997 then you could drive a 7.5t truck with a trailer of upto 750Kgs. Thus making 8250 Kgs
However, if like me you were unlucky enough to take your test after this date the most you can drive is any vehicl covered by a cat b licence, which is upto 3500Kgs.
Or if you are working as a builder, you could tow a trailer of upto 750Kgs, making your total train weight 4250Kgs. There are several exceptions as to what you can and can’t tow with/without needing a tacho.
But I might be wrong, and all of the above might be nonsence !! 
jammymutt:
whats the heaviest thing you can drive on the road on a non hgv licence I.E. 7.5 ton licence.
A Train?
When it goes through a Level Crossing it travels across a road. 
isn’t there some sort of exemption for recovery vehicles? if so you could gross sixty odd ton 
failing that i’d go for a steam engine and trailer.
The Biker:
As above but it also depends when you passed your car test people who passed after 1999? can only drive up to 3500kg.
althougth if you passed C1 (not Class1) after 1999 you can drive a 7.5 tonner and trailer with a gross train weight of 12000kgs
Denis F:
The Biker:
As above but it also depends when you passed your car test people who passed after 1999? can only drive up to 3500kg.althougth if you passed C1 (not Class1) after 1999 you can drive a 7.5 tonner and trailer with a gross train weight of 12000kgs
The C1+E category allows you to do this so I presume you mean you get this entitlement automatically with your C1 test pass (?). If you passed before 1/1/97 you got a restriction (107) on your licence
mrpj:
The C1+E category allows you to do this so I presume you mean you get this entitlement automatically with your C1 test pass (?). If you passed before 1/1/97 you got a restriction (107) on your licence
it’s been a long day 
So am I right in thinking that my post 1997 driving licence now has B, C1 and C (C1 and C from passing a Cat C test) on it and I can pull trailers up to 750kg, but if you have a pre 1997 driving licence you would have B, C1 and C1+E (with no seperate HGV/LGV tests taken) and could still only pull trailers up to 750kg?
If that’s correct then why the hell didn’t they just knock the C1+E off of the licences?
Andyroo:
So am I right in thinking that my post 1997 driving licence now has B, C1 and C (C1 and C from passing a Cat C test) on it and I can pull trailers up to 750kg, but if you have a pre 1997 driving licence you would have B, C1 and C1+E (with no seperate HGV/LGV tests taken) and could still only pull trailers up to 750kg?If that’s correct then why the hell didn’t they just knock the C1+E off of the licences?
Because then anyone with a new car license could drive up to 7.5t without extra training. I believe that the idea of taking off the automatic C1, C1+E, D1, D1+E is to force people to get proper training before going out in what is a very different vehicle to the one they passed their test in. Before 1997, you could pass your test in a Corsa and then immediately drive a 7.5t truck, which is a very different animal. Now, you need to pass another test to drive anything over 3.5t (4.25t including trailer).
You got your C1 by passing the C test; you don’t automatically get C1 with a car license any more.
In answer to the original question, the DVLA site also gives some other exemptions - you can also drive play/project vehicles (usually busses) which would be well over the normal 7.5t limit, and any bus over 30 years old, as long as it’s not for hire or reward, and not carrying more than 8 passengers.