Actually i think its ridiculous that weight limits apply to MAM and not weight at the time.
i.e. means you can’t go over a bridge plated at 38 tonne with tractor unit only(weighing what? 7 - 8 tonne?) whose MAM is 44 tonne.
How much fuel is wasted taking an alternative route?
Driveroneuk:
Actually i think its ridiculous that weight limits apply to MAM and not weight at the time.i.e. means you can’t go over a bridge plated at 38 tonne with tractor unit only(weighing what? 7 - 8 tonne?) whose MAM is 44 tonne.
How much fuel is wasted taking an alternative route?
stupid, but true 
shuttlespanker:
Driveroneuk:
Actually i think its ridiculous that weight limits apply to MAM and not weight at the time.i.e. means you can’t go over a bridge plated at 38 tonne with tractor unit only(weighing what? 7 - 8 tonne?) whose MAM is 44 tonne.
How much fuel is wasted taking an alternative route?
stupid, but true
Well I never knew that fact - you learn something new everyday on here. 
ROG may be you could fire off one of your emails to those legal eagles and see what they say about this weight limit MAM - imagine you could challenge that in court surely 
shuttlespanker:
it is up to you if you want to do it again, but if you get caught, don’t come on here bleating about it after
Be assured I won’t be doing it again 
With effect from 1 January 1990, a number of signs showing weights in imperial tons and relating to unladen vehicle weights may no longer be used, and have become un-enforceable.
dft.gov.uk/pgr/roads/tss/trafficsigns.pdf
The old 10 Ton weight limit signs applied to the actual weight of the vehicle at the time. Because of the difficulty of establishing the exact weight at the time of the offence these signs should all have been replaced by the new metric ones relating to MAM. These would therefore have to be 7½ Tonnes, 18 Tonnes, 24 Tonnes etc.
“No vehicle has an MAM of 10T so the weight limit is out of date and uneforcable.” OK Thats wrong - but the older weight limit signs that are still seen around are unenforcable.
No vehicle has an MAM of 10T
ehh 
A 7.5 tonner could very easily be uprated to 10 or 12 tonne and many times has been.
try going here
Use the “quick search” on the left, only enter the weight category 7.51-18T & order results by weight. Think you might be suprised.
But its irrelevant anyway because bridge limitation weights are about what the structure is considered safe to carry. Not about what weight categories LGV’s usually come in.
i was not big & clever when i went with an empty trailer thru edinburgh, following a bus over 1.5tn limits no damage done but a very ■■■■ clinching 5mins.
ivor biggin:
i was not big & clever when i went with an empty trailer thru edinburgh, following a bus over 1.5tn limits
Must remember this when I’m out in the Rolls 
The problem is these days is you never know where & when you may have been caught on camera. i.e. London buses lanes.
It always gets me that you see a sign with a bridge that says 7.5ton except for buses then a bus passes that weighs at least 10 ton unladen on its route straight down the road and over the bridge.
Ofcourse, because he can, because it says so.
Agreed though if buses can go over, why not other vehicles of equivalent weight?
johnpirate:
It always gets me that you see a sign with a bridge that says 7.5ton except for buses then a bus passes that weighs at least 10 ton unladen on its route straight down the road and over the bridge.
Anybody know of a site that gives an explanation of why these rules are made, or is that expecting too much?
Went over a 7.5 tonne bridge the other week, was about 27 tonne gross train as well. Absolutely crapped meself to be honest, but there was no where to go, the company I was delivering to had given me directions, and would have involved about a 3 mile reverse to get out of it, so just went for it, bridge was still intact afterwards, but never want to do it again.
bugcos:
Went over a 7.5 tonne bridge the other week, was about 27 tonne gross train as well. Absolutely crapped meself to be honest, but there was no where to go, the company I was delivering to had given me directions, and would have involved about a 3 mile reverse to get out of it, so just went for it, bridge was still intact afterwards, but never want to do it again.
I hate to think what the penalty for that would have been.
Your not alone though, I was following a 3 axle curtainsider today who went over a 17 T MGW in Ayrshire today. If he was a 17 T MGW, I’m a cheese sandwich.
(I was in me car)
Since this thread started I haven’t seen a sign that reads ‘except when empty’, as shown in the Truckers Atlas