Someone round here got stopped driving a 3.5 Tonne LDV Convoy because it looked very low, when stopped the rear springs had bent over the other way. Turns out the muppet thought 3.5 Tonne was the weight he could carry, and had almost 3 tonne on it’s back…
As I understand it, whilst you might get away with 5% overload, a lot may hinge on whether or not you KNEW you were over when you loaded, and what you could reasonably have done about it.
In the case of a palletised load where you weighed out, and you had the opportunity to take one pallet off to get below GVW, you could expect to get nicked; if on a bulker or tipper loading out of a farm with no weighbridge or even a self-weigh, and no chance to tip some out, probably not.
VOSA could also take into account whether or not you persistently overload. If you’re that half tonne over on every load you take out, it would suggest that you’re not taking any steps to remedy the situation even though you know about it, which could get you dumped on; not just the driver but also the loaders, weighbridge clerk and management, all of who could be proven to have aided and abetted in the offences.
I could overload a pickup and it wouldn’t make any difference; the weighbridge has a visible display and the driver signs the ticket with the weight on so it’s down to him.
Muckaway:
I could overload a pickup and it wouldn’t make any difference; the weighbridge has a visible display and the driver signs the ticket with the weight on so it’s down to him.
Not 100% sure about that
When I worked in the office at corus we wouldn’t let anything off the bridge on the road as we had a duty of care and would face repercussions of this happened?
thelorryist:
Muckaway:
I could overload a pickup and it wouldn’t make any difference; the weighbridge has a visible display and the driver signs the ticket with the weight on so it’s down to him.Not 100% sure about that
When I worked in the office at corus we wouldn’t let anything off the bridge on the road as we had a duty of care and would face repercussions of this happened?
This is exactly the reason a lot of places won’t weigh you out over 44000kg (or whatever your max is), as the weighbridge operators have a duty of care in law and if they let you out overweight and then you ave an accident then they could potentially end up in the brown stuff.
Paul
espresso:
Yep … 5% is what VOSA told my boss.BTW, I presume that is obviously 5% of total load capacity and not 5% of 44 tonnes?
The tolerance is 5% or 1000kg, whichever is the smaller, and goes on MGW/GTW, not load capacity. So for a 44t artic then you’re looking at 45t max before you get prosecuted. However this tolerance is just VOSA’s guidance and not set in law so they could still technically prosecute for much smaller overloads if they want to. This is especially relevant if the driver was fully aware of the overload (for example if he/she had a weighbridge ticket from the site they had loaded at). If that was the case then you might well end up in trouble for much lower amounts.
Paul
Repton, we don’t have probs in general with lorries but how am I to know if the pickup is 3t max gross or 3.5?