Can one arbitrarily plate any smaller vehicle with any weight?
I see a small truck like this with a tax disk saying it’s “16,000kg” - my arse! It’s a bloody 600cf not much bigger than a luton box ffs!
Since there’s no plated weight on the vehicle - how do you really know when you’re breaking the law or not by driving it?
I know you can’t take a two axled tractor with a two axled trailer - and plate it up as 44t - so how come a two axled 7.5t-sized van can be “tax disked up as 16t”? - especially now that tax disks are no longer valid!
Check the data plate for the axle weights, that’s what counts. Weight distribution is critical on a lorry that small. I’m on a daf lf plant truck plated at 12t. Payload of 6.25t. Can’t remember the axle weights on mine but I need to be really carefull not to overload the front axle.
For vehicles over 3.5 tonnes design weight they will have a DVSA/VOSA plate stating the weight which can be officially used - that is always lower than the design weight
It is possible to uprate a vehicle design weight and therefore the officially used weight by changing suspension and other components
Always look at the official DVSA weight plate and go by that
nickb67:
Without even looking at the data-plate, “■■160E??” in silver lettering on the doors would lead me to believe it’d be a 16-tonner.
And not many 7.5s have 8 wheel nuts.
I cannot find the relevant Plating regulations which mention it, but I don’t recall seeing 8 stud hubs on a 16 ton(ne) vehicle. That would require 10 studs. I think the cut off point for 8 studs is somewhere around 13 tonnes. The KG Bedford had 8 studs for 12 tons, but I’m not sure about the 1313 Ford Cargo.
I know it’s not what the OP asked, but plenty of people downplate vehicles to save tax. Was it White Arrow that took the twin wheels off their trailers?
If you only carry ping pong balls - you need a big box but a low weight.
