I saw 3000KG come out of a Merc Sprinter today, designed for 1085, if memory serves me right.
I asked the driver why he was so overloaded, he went on to tell me that he has had 4 rear tyre blowouts on the motorway in the last 2 months 
He explained that he thought it was dangerous, but his boss has told him he must do it, or he will lose his job.
This was in BradfordâŚI am sure you can all guess the rest! 
I can guess Att. You see lots of LWB vans passing that resemble powerboats because of the weight on them.
Back in the wilderness years when I was doing recovery I had to collect a Sprinter from Blyth services, when my winch started to struggle I asked what weight he had on, he was adamant that I was wrong when I told him that 3.5 tonne was the max weight of him, the van and the load. He thought 3 x 1 tonne pallets was ok!
See with that kinda weight it will be pretty obvious to the naked eye, shame there is no traffic polis nowadays to spot it.
A lot of van drivers donât appear to know how little weight their vans can actually carry legally.
This reminds me of a time many years ago. I had to load 2, 1 ton pallets, but had to wait for the guy In front of me to be loaded.
He was loading 7, 1 ton pallets on the back of a 7.5 tonner.
When I reminded him how much the pallets weigh, he said âthatâs OK, because he still has half a ton to play withâ.
To which I replied " No. the 7.5t Includes the weight of the truck + cargo, so youâre going to be about 3t overweight"
The guy said I was wrong & carried on loading.
About an hour later I pulled Into Watford Gap services to see this driver had been pulled over by the Police. The look on his face was pricelessâŚ
Kerbdog:
A lot of van drivers donât appear to know how little weight their vans can actually carry legally.
Yep, i think the legal carrying weights of vans needs to be properly brought to be attention of van drivers and operators. In a lot of cases overloaded vans are due to sheer ignorance to the laws. HGV drivers and operators generally (âgenerallyâ being a key word) are aware because it tends to get drilled in to you, van drivers however are usually just car drivers in a bigger vehicle and we know most of them couldnt recite basics in the highway code.
Similarlarly, i bet there are hundreds of large trailers and caravans being driven on our roads everyday by people without b+e on their license.
rob22888:
Similarlarly, i bet there are hundreds of large trailers and caravans being driven on our roads everyday by people without b+e on their license.
Yeah, dont forget though you can still tow a maximum train weight (towing vehicle weight + the trailer) of 3500KG with a post 97 liscense with just a Cat B on it!
Gembo:
rob22888:
Similarlarly, i bet there are hundreds of large trailers and caravans being driven on our roads everyday by people without b+e on their license.Yeah, dont forget though you can still tow a maximum train weight (towing vehicle weight + the trailer) of 3500KG with a post 97 liscense with just a Cat B on it!
That would be a maximum plated MAM weight of 3500 on a B licence and not a maximum total or train weight
ROG:
Gembo:
rob22888:
Similarlarly, i bet there are hundreds of large trailers and caravans being driven on our roads everyday by people without b+e on their license.Yeah, dont forget though you can still tow a maximum train weight (towing vehicle weight + the trailer) of 3500KG with a post 97 liscense with just a Cat B on it!
That would be a maximum plated MAM weight of 3500 on a B licence and not a maximum total or train weight
Thats what i said Rog -MAM of towing vehicle plus MAM of trailer= 3500KG or the gross train weight
Quoted from here gov.uk/towing-with-car/driv ⌠ou-can-tow
âââa trailer over 750kg MAM as long as it is no more than the unladen or âkerbâ weight of the towing vehicle (with a combined weight of up to 3,500kg in total)âââ
Or are we on a hair splitting mission tonite? 
(Just for a change)
A place I used to work was near a few cash and Carrys and the amount of vans and even people carriers etc you used to see with the back bumper scraping the floor was unreal.
Old bill used to sit there and pull them in regular.
att:
I saw 3000KG come out of a Merc Sprinter today, designed for 1085, if memory serves me right.
I asked the driver why he was so overloaded, he went on to tell me that he has had 4 rear tyre blowouts on the motorway in the last 2 months
This was in BradfordâŚI am sure you can all guess the rest!
i picked an lwb sprinter up on the M4 a couple of years ago. heâd had a rear blowout, and tried to change it himself, but the van was staying put and the jack was winding itself down into the tarmac. one of our fitters went out with a trolley jack, and that wouldnât lift it either. so i got sent to lift it off the motorway, the plan being to drop him at kwikfit. as i was getting it loaded, the old bill turned up and asked me if i could drop it at the weighbridge instead. mr vosa man had a big grin on his face as he weighed it - front axle 3.5 ton, rear axle 5 ton it was full of spuds. and by full, i mean you couldnât have got another spud in there if you tried. he even had a few sacks in the front footwell.
used to get pushed regularly to overload the van when i drove for a transit for a well known highstreet wine merchant:
âcan you just take this one extra box?â
ânope, sorry. van is fullâ
âbut it isnât full! youâve barely covered the floor with boxesâ
âyes, heavy boxes. thatâs all sheâll takeâ
âcanât you put it in the front then?â
Gembo:
Or are we on a hair splitting mission tonite?
The meaning of gross train weight is for the actual weight of the towing vehicle and trailer so that could be a vehicle with a GVW of 3000 but actually weighing 2000 with a trailer where the plated MAM is 2000 but actually weighing 1500 - all that will be 3500 GTW but 5000 total Maximum combined MAM weight which is 1500 over the allowance for B licence towing
Its not splitting hairs because they are totally seperate meanings
att:
I saw 3000KG come out of a Merc Sprinter today, designed for 1085, if memory serves me right.
I asked the driver why he was so overloaded, he went on to tell me that he has had 4 rear tyre blowouts on the motorway in the last 2 months
This was in BradfordâŚI am sure you can all guess the rest!
Iâm surprised he could drive in a straight line ,the new sprinters (and the old) handle like pigs when overloaded and unless they are re mapped they are horribly underpowered
ROG:
Gembo:
Or are we on a hair splitting mission tonite?The meaning of gross train weight is for the actual weight of the towing vehicle and trailer so that could be a vehicle with a GVW of 3000 but actually weighing 2000 with a trailer where the plated MAM is 2000 but actually weighing 1500 - all that will be 3500 GTW but 5000 total Maximum combined MAM weight which is 1500 over the allowance for B licence towing
Its not splitting hairs because they are totally seperate meanings
Wouldnât it have been much easier if they stuck to a trailer being a trailer irrespective of weights. To tow a trailer youâd need a +E on your licence, end of.
8wheels:
Wouldnât it have been much easier if they stuck to a trailer being a trailer irrespective of weights. To tow a trailer youâd need a +E on your licence, end of.
Yes it would
B licence learners cannot tow any sort of trailer by law so what you say makes sense
rob22888:
Similarlarly, i bet there are hundreds of large trailers and caravans being driven on our roads everyday by people without b+e on their license.
The weighbridge just outside Queensferry tends to be full of them in summer, all getting educated about axle weights and license classes with the aide of a bit of wallet emptying and a prohibition notice.
about 15 years ago, I was sitting waiting to pull out at an intersection, along the main road comes a 1970âs American pick up truck loaded way above cab height with mud and rocks, doing about 10-15 mph, on top about 4 guys sitting/balancing, he puts his left indicator on and as he turns the wheel, the truck kept goiung straight, he stops, the 4 okes jump off and climb on the front bumper, just getting the driving wheels on to the tarmac, he turns left slowly and then off he went, aftre the guys jumped off and climbed back on. Sign on door made me laugh " Hennies Professional landscaping"
ROG:
Its not splitting hairs because they are totally seperate meanings
WTF are you on about?? Get off my [zb] case FFS man 
Get a bloody life! Get a bird, any dam thing! 
see it everyday, last year a sprinter was pulled by vosa on a1 just before m11, once they had finished weighing he was four tons over the limit also full of spuds, he was there three hours having to unload by hand and stack up these sacks of potatoes in the layby. i did ask him how much damage turns out he was lucky to get away with only a 200 quid fine, vosa must of been genourous after watching him unload all the potaoes. he did ask me if i could watch them while he went to get another van to reload what was over, he did give me five sacks which were duly shared out with the other drivers on returning to the yard.
dont think there was any left when the driver got back as a few drivers in the layby were taking an eager eye on what was left.
The problem with the sprinter is the payload is pants from working the van job the problems arrise when customers donât realise they need 3 vans for there 3 pallets not one as most vans are odâs it can be a tough call most van operators know the payload they can take
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