Overweight motorhome

I had written advice from the DVSA and copied it into this forum. It may not be up to date as it was three years ago. You can be prosecuted for the overweight, and if applicable, having a driving licence limited to 3,500kg, and having no valid insurance if it is limited to a 3,500kg vehicle.

If the van is overweight, you will have to correct this before being allowed to proceed as derekcyril says. If the 5% applies, it works both ways so your van may be even heavier!

ADVICE IN RESPONSE TO A MOTORHOME QUESTION:

Good morning,

Response to your enquiry received by the contact centre on 24th March 2017. Forwarded to us due to its technical nature.

Our advice would be the same as you have received in that the vehicle should be weighed with a full tank of fuel full tank of water and all that you would normally carry but we would recommend that a tolerance is used to allow for the items you may pick up on route the different foods you may carry etc.

If stopped by any enforcement agency consideration would be taken especially if you have a recent weigh bridge ticket that shows you have done everything to comply. We are aware of the variations between weigh bridges but we will not tolerate people that have checked the weight but continued even though the weight was clearly over the maximum permitted weight for that vehicle.

Regards

Philip Harrison.

Heavy Vehicle Technical Officer.
Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency

A £100 penalty will be given for a 0% to 9.99% overload, but DVSA examiners will allow a 5% leeway before issuing a fixed penalty or prohibition, unless the relevant weight has been exceeded by 1 tonne or more. 

This doesn’t mean you can load up allowing for the excess and abuse the system. 

Remember you can be overweight on your axle as well as your gross weight  both are separate offences  

excess weight divided by plated weight X 100 gives you your percentage overweight