Two weighing exercises in recent weeks with two very different clients, one a utility company the other a housing association, but both operating very similar 3.5t vans.
The objective with both was to determine what if any incidences
of overloading they were experiencing.
Both were aware of the dangers of overloading – it affects
the brakes, steering, clutch, suspension, tyres and the basic safety of the
vehicle – so were hoping that no issues would be found.
Using portable weighpads we arranged for a number of their
vehicles to be weighed at different locations under supervision to ensure the
pads were used correctly.
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| Checking for Van overloads Using Portable Weighpads |
Whilst finding no overloads would have been ideal it was
perhaps inevitable that some issues would be found.
Much to the clients’ disappointment, there were quite a few
vehicles that caused concern. In one case 16% and in the other a staggering 20%
of the vehicles were over their permitted weight.
Many more were very close to the limit and the addition of a
passenger, more fuel or even marginally more in the load space and they would
have been overloaded.
Most of the overloads were fairly minor and in isolation
unlikely to attract a prosecution. But it has been known for insurance to be
invalidated if an overloaded vehicle is involved in an accident and persistent,
minor infringements would certainly attract the attention of the authorities.
Sometimes these weight checks can provide peace of mind but
without going through the exercise operators are usually unaware if they are
running legally laden or not.
One of these latest clients also operate larger vehicles and
whilst the smaller 3.5t vans are not on the ‘O’ licence, any overloading
offences must be reported to the Traffic Commissioner and could affect an
application or renewal at a later date.
Are your vans running legally laden? If you think a free
weight check might be useful help then contact us and we’ll be delighted to
help.
