Has anyone been pulled and weighed by VOSA (1 Viewer)

[laneside]

If so do they allow any margin of error.The reason I ask is my Rapido is registered as PHG at 3700 Kg.

Upon weighing it last week we crept in at 3690 Kg with no water on board the problem is my rear axle is rated at 2000 Kg. and that weighed 2140 Kg.

If I took everything out of the garage except for an extra 100 amp battery and a 130 watt solar off the roof I may just scape in at 2000 Kg

Do I really want a spare wheel, electric bike and ramps under the table when travelling.

Would they really do a "jobs worth on me" or just slap my hands and face?

 

[pappajohn]

140kg over is around 7% above your axle weight.....i doubt they would let you continue until you got back to 2000kg.
and I reckon they would prosecute at that percentage over.

Looks like you need a trailer, or a weight uprate.

Allegedly, VOSA are pulling more and more motor homes.

 

[Snowbird]

I go past the one on the M6 at Stafford quite often and have seen plenty MHs in the chicken coup there. I don't think for one minute they were wilding .

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[vwalan]

5%is too much vehicle not allowed to carry on till weight lost .no charge .
over 10% vehicle must be stopped weight taken off and a prosecution usually follows .with heavy penalties imposed on conviction .
there is no defence in over loading if caught you are really in trouble .the max fine is 5,000quid .

 

[herbies]

is there an easy idiots guide to all this and when/how often do you need to weigh?:Sad:

 

[DuxDeluxe]

What I did was fill with fuel, fill with water (fresh and waste) put the bikes on the back and made sure that the [STRIKE]wine[/STRIKE] soft drink store was full and then put it across the weighbridge as a worst case. Then I knew that I was safe if pulled (by about 400 kilos so a happy bunny). Most important are the axle weights. I have a friend who keeps saying that he must get it weighed some time with a very long overhang, 3500kg euro van and 2 electric bikes plus junk in the garage. I just pray he doesn't get pulled .......... If his rear axle is within the limits I would be amazed. Weighbridge - whatever you do.:thumb:

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[Snowbird]

This seems to be the problem with 3500kg MHs. We now demand more and more extras such as satellite TV, inverters, bike racks, large fridge, solar panels etc. Many MHs leave the dealers with there max weight and then put 2 people and there belongings in, fill the fuel tank and water tank and many are more than 10% overloaded. What many do not realise is that the vehicle is weighed as it is travelling, ie, with 2 people or with 4 people in. For instance I weight 108kgs, I dare not ask what herself weighs, but am sure you will get my drift.

 

[rangi]

Saw VOSA in the big layby on the A30 near Kingsley Village (east bound) this morning.
There was a M/H there, but wether he was stopped by them or just pulled in for a comfort break I couldn't tell you for sure:Sad:

 

[vwalan]

the a30 at kingsley village is a rough one . i know the vosa thay are there they reckon on a saturday they can get 20-30 m,homes over weight with out trying .
another place is gordano service station .
folk just dont think about it . buy the wrong vehicle then fill it ti the hilt .
most m,homes cant legally carry the amount of people they can sleep. yet folk keep on buying them .

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[Terry]

I got pulled a long time ago -long story-but 5% over is ok anything over that and big trouble , fines and leaving stuff at w, bridge before continue
Terry

 

[busby]

Cost me £900 twenty years ago for ovrerloading a Ford Escort Van. Own fault though. BUSBY

 

[DuxDeluxe]

This seems to be the problem with 3500kg MHs. We now demand more and more extras such as satellite TV, inverters, bike racks, large fridge, solar panels etc. Many MHs leave the dealers with there max weight and then put 2 people and there belongings in, fill the fuel tank and water tank and many are more than 10% overloaded. What many do not realise is that the vehicle is weighed as it is travelling, ie, with 2 people or with 4 people in. For instance I weight 108kgs, I dare not ask what herself weighs, but am sure you will get my drift.

Yes - A few manufacturers use their declared weight (plus/minus 5%) and guess what - mostly plus 5%......... Makes a big difference. Some vans I looked at even have an abysmal payload even with declared figures. I wasn't fussed about 3500 kg and simply got a 4tonne van. Still only 3550 fully loaded up as described above, though.


Edit:- luckily was able to do that.

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[Allanm]

My van only has a 300kg payload, but the MRO includes most of me, 90% fuel water and gas and EHU cable.
Seeing as there are only two of us and 2 med sized dogs and no bikes or heavy boots, we have enough to spare
Still, I am going to get the van replated to 3700 kg to give us enough capacity to bring plenty of sparkling water back from France!
Allan

 

[DuxDeluxe]

Good idea to get a definitive reading from a weighbridge anyway............

 

[vwalan]

go for as high as you can .by the time you get food tools beer big dog food etc it soon mounts up.

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[DuxDeluxe]

go for as high as you can .by the time you get food tools beer big dog food etc it soon mounts up.

Big dog food? Was that FB pies?

 

[vwalan]

i didnt mention the fb pies as they wont have space for them .i wouldnt dream of going away in winter with out a couple dozen .

 

[Techno]

This is why Michelin for one have stopped giving specific pressures for rear tyres
they now just specify 80 psi (the maximum)
Be assured that unless you actually know your true weight then it is most likely that you are OVER.
There really is no hiding from this
Get weighed

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[DuxDeluxe]

Yes, that is exactly what they told me. The front recommended pressure from them was pro rated with the tyre load capacity and the axle weight divided by two.

 

[Chris]

And don't forget if you are overweight and you have a bump, there is a real risk that your insurer would refuse to deal with it.

 

[greygit]

After weighing our van (nearly fully loaded)and finding we only had 20Kg to play with we are now in the process of uprating to 3700 with SvTech .....bit on the expensive side though.

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[laneside]

After weighing our van (nearly fully loaded)and finding we only had 20Kg to play with we are now in the process of uprating to 3700 with SvTech .....bit on the expensive side though.

My only queery with this is can they up-rate my 2000kg rear axle, just no point if rear axle stays at 2000kg. I did email them regarding this and got no reply. I will ring them next week

 

[greygit]

On the weighbridge our rear axle came out at 1800 so not too much of a problem for us so we are going for the non mechanical upgrade ie, no update to axle and tyres.
You can increase the rear axle carrying capacity but you will have to have air assisters or the like and probably change your tyres to ones of greater carrying capacity.
I would ,as you say, Phone SvTech as things move faster that way and you can get all the information you need. 01772621800........I am just a customer honest.

 

[tonka]

I know the OP related to VOSA and UK..
But remember if this happens abroad ie France, it's an on the spot fine and you will have to loose the weight as well. Met a couple in Spain once who were stopped near border. Fined €90 and even after dumping all water etc they still had to leave books and other items behind..

The topic of weights and people trying to keep legal comes up regular, but I have seen vans and met some owners who honestly cant give a s***. Just looking at their vans you can see they are overweight, some have no idea oh:

Yes, I have been stopped years ago but that was in a Transit. Fined for overweight and had to dump a load of CB radio books i was carrying (no great loss there).. Never had a weight stop in Motorhome.

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[Jaws]

As mentioned elsewhere, when we got the Miller I put it on a wb pretty much empty.. It was 50k over the 3500 plating !!

SV Tech were VERY helpful at all stages, and AS Air Suspension supplied an easy to fit air suspension kit for the rear end.. It already had the correct tyres fitted so at least that was not a problem.

Vehicle now plated at 4.1t and absolutely fully loaded I am still under ( but sometimes it is CLOSE ! )

 

[Spottycatz]

I'm getting the MH weighed tomorrow. Do I need a weight 'certificate' or something to carry with me in case I am stopped?

 

[DuxDeluxe]

If you get stopped, they will weigh it themselves, so any bit of paper would only give a bit of comfort really.

On the other hand, when stopped, if you can rapidly whip out the weighbridge tickets which show a healthy margin then they may not bother to weigh the van. Just a thought. Depends how bored they are, I suppose.

Edit: I do keep the weighbridge tickets in the van anyway - but the above never occurred to me, so thanks for that :thumb:

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[voyagerstan]

been pulled twice at gordano not aproblem as am seven half ton . when they realised just dipped tanks checked tyres and that was that . (i was a bit worried when they pulled on the rubber gloves ) stan:Cool:

 

[Bailey58]

I keep the weighbridge certificate in the van, if nothing else it would show them that you are conscious of the weight significance and have done something about it.

 

[TheBig1]

Just a thought, not everyone is aware of how to find a local weighbridge. so here is a fairly comprehensive directory listing that you may find helpful

Link Removed

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