Are you over weight
 

Just found this, I think I'll have to look at all the gubbings in our van

https://youtu.be/J3yw5z_Jjaw
Mike

Very interesting?

As compared with my van there was almost nothing inside the van.

It might have been useful to have weighed the van empty to check the manufacturers MIRO.

I would say 99.9% of people are over weight if your van is about 5 yrs & younger. The payload on new vans is ridiculously low , on average 155kg for a single axle van.
Mover , awning, battery , 2 x gas bottles you’re close to 100kg before you put stuff in it & fill the fridge .
Since I bought my xc90 just about everything travels in the car . There’s only the wife, wee dog & I , so the the middle & rear seats are folded down 100% of the time . It’s like driving a posh van.

Interesting video...

It's worth noting that the penalties for an overweight vehicle, trailer and/or combination are on a sliding scale based on the percentage of weight over the limit. In any of the below cases the vehicle could be issued with a prohibition notice if the inspector finds it is unsafe - that's a £80 charge and you can't move it until corrected. The penalty is "non endorsable" - i.e. you don't get any points.

0-5% - no fine, 5% - 10% - £100, 10 - 15% - £200, 15% - 30% - £300, 30%+ - court summons.

Whilst everyone is legally and morally obliged to know their weights and keep within the law, I personally think a correctly loaded (i.e. weight secured and over the axle not fore/aft) and carefully driven caravan that is 5% overweight is far less a risk to other road users than a badly loaded caravan that is underweight and/or driven by an inexperienced/ untrained driver.

I guess what you are saying is the percentages are in relation to the MTPLM and not the payload. For example a van with a MTPLM of 1500kgs would be in the < 5% bracket if overloaded by 70kgs not in the >30% bracket when the extra weight is considered as a percentage of the allowable payload of say 200kgs.

Looking at the video I suspect that the whole van was taken off the back of the tow vehicle and weighed.

This is not as the van is being used on the road as up to 90kg will be on the towball and not the total weight of the van. So the van on the road will be 1710 kg well within the MTLPM.

The MTLP M as quoted on the plate is the max for axle 1 on a single axle van.

The mass of 1800kg remains unchanged with a nose weight*on*the*tow vehicle of 100kg


*

What is being 'towed' however is only1700kg, the axle load, i.e. 1800kg minus the 100kg noseweight.

The DVSA now use devices that look like bathroom scales and measure the weight of each wheel to the road, for trailers they can in theory use three to get the nose weight through the jockey wheel.

I'm not saying it doesn't happen but I have personally never heard of anyone getting a ticket for an excess nose weight.

Erm.... no.

The Mass remains unchanged at 1800Kg and that is what is being towed. The weight is the forces exerted on the ground as a result of gravity acting on the mass.

So whilst the weight carried on the axle is reduced by that which is exerted on the tow ball, the force required to move the caravan and stop it again is the same.

If the caravan is on a weigh bridge it will read the same regardless of nose weight.