Do You Weigh Your Motorhome ?

Polar Bear said:
Is there a POI VOSA weigh station?
I know they often stop and weigh vehicles on the A47 between Newark and Sleaford near the roundabout.
I've been pulled and weighed by VOSA with portable weigh pads whilst driving a truck and was within 10ks of being overloaded so no problem.

One thing I wondered about - is they are not allowed/issued with blue lights and stopped me on yellows!
I knew the officer from work so stopped at the first layby but what if I had not stopped.
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I know where the vast majority of VOSA Check Points are but as far as i am aware they are not open to the public.

Stirling i think is the only one.

What makes it better is that it is a Dynamic Axle Weigher which are more accurate than a normal weighbridge for axle weights.
 
Wooie1958 said:
I know where the vast majority of VOSA Check Points are but as far as i am aware they are not open to the public.

Stirling i think is the only one.

What makes it better is that it is a Dynamic Axle Weigher which are more accurate than a normal weighbridge for axle weights.
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I was thinking to avoid them?
 
Wooie1958 said:
Why, if you are running legal ?
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If you camp alone and don't buy anything at all its easy to stay 'legal'.
If you buy food because you need it or wine because you want it and if you have a wife that can put things aboard that you have no idea about you may not want to told about it?

Are you telling me that you are always under the weight of you plate?

I openly admit I don't know the weight of my van all the time
 
Penny13 said:
There is a section of the M4 nr Bristol that weighs you as you drive over it !
Rob weighed my bus and I was just over but is there anywhere you can go without the powers that be looking on ?
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my local scrap yard say they will do mine for free as i know them ,mind you wilst i was in the craine driver was drouling over my skoda with his grabs i jest you not,i gave him the one finger salute and shouted not yet mate.:scared:
 
We use the free weighbridge outside trading standards in Morley (near Leeds). We always pack carefully but were always close to the limit, (so who knows how many overweight vans are on the road). We uprated via SVC from 3.5 to 3.9t which allowed us to take all the toys, though most of the extra payload was on the front axle where we didn't need it.
 
Polar Bear said:
If you camp alone and don't buy anything at all its easy to stay 'legal'.
If you buy food because you need it or wine because you want it and if you have a wife that can put things aboard that you have no idea about you may not want to told about it?

Are you telling me that you are always under the weight of you plate?

I openly admit I don't know the weight of my van all the time
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Yes, i genuinely believe i am and the weighbridge tickets prove it.

The only thing that isn`t quite full is the fuel tank which has done 8.6 miles from being brimmed to the weighbridge.

Everything else is full to bursting especially when we go away for over a week.

I mean everything from the fridge to the wardrobe and extra clothes, my Lager, spare food in both crates, water tank and spare water bottles ( full ) for the toilet header tank, 2 X full gas bottles, gennie and petrol, all the wifes stock including all the packaging etc. laptop & printer. i could go on. :D
 
There is a Vosa check point with a self service weighbridge like the Stirling one at Withy Patch on the A27 westbound between Lancing and Shoreham airport in west Sussex.
 
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yeoblade said:
Yes,
went through all that here http://www.wildcamping.co.uk/forums/motorhome-knowledge-base/35943-went-weighbridge-today.html#post410416

Had to pay a tenner for the local weighbridge and they refused to allow me to weigh a single axle, even unoffically as i said I didn't need a print out but could I just look at the readout. NO we are not alowed to do that!! last time I there.

Whats a Dynamic axle weigher?

What model MH have you got Wooie?
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These are Dynamic Axle Weighers Dynamic Axle Weigher.jpg

A metal plate set into the road that you drive over slowly and they weigh each axle independently and then give a total weight.

Compass Castaway 500LL
 
People seem to rely to much on what the manfacture quotes as 'payload' in the small print there is a +/-5% margin so on 3500 kgs that works out at 175 kgs. If you have a stated payload of 350 kgs then possibly (more like probably) half your payload has gone, also the payload allows for the driver of 70 kgs (I wish) so if your partner travels with you & they are 70 kgs then your payload of 350 kgs then goes down to 105 kgs :scared::scared: all this is before we start adding up all those 'extras' some of which are actually what you think of as standard but the manfacturer counts as extra for the payload. Then unless you don't want to use your van for living in we need all the essentials like food, clothing, pots & pans etc.. I doubt if many vans on the road are under their rated weight.

Unless you weigh your van then you have no knowledge of its weight, weighbridges also have a tolerance usually as a percentage.
 
When the van is taken for it's MOT it gets weighed by the brake testing machine, it is a Mercedes Sprinter based Hymer A class with a MGW of 5000kg, even when fully loaded for going to a race meeting it has never been near the axle or gross weights.
 
The MOT brake testing machine is not as I found out a very reliable for weighing the vehicle. When I asked them to check the weight while it was being done they showed it to be overweight by a large amount (couple of hundred kilos).
 
At my local council rubbish dump the traders with vans or lorry's have to pay for the weight of the gear they leave there. Its done by a weigh bridge. The council operator has offered to check the weight for free, no certificate mind just written down.
 
Don't get it

Sorry guys dont understand mines a 3.5 mwb high roof ? What do u mean overweight pleade explain I'm thicko u see ????????
 
yeoblade said:
SNIP
Had to pay a tenner for the local weighbridge and they refused to allow me to weigh a single axle, even unoffically as i said I didn't need a print out but could I just look at the readout. NO we are not alowed to do that!! last time I there.
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Why the secrecy? Sounds very odd to me. This one was a tenner: cash......
John

 
siimplyloco said:
Why the secrecy? Sounds very odd to me. This one was a tenner: cash......
John
...................
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Tenner cash, says FOC :)

Exactly.

The place NOT to go is:

Pen Mill Feeds (Duffields) Ltd
Babylon View, Oxford Rd, Pen Mill Trading Estate, Yeovil, Somerset, BA21 5HR

The reason given by the young lady in the office was, 'We are not allowed to do that because our weighbridge is not designed for that, I did it the other week and was told off by my boss'
And she wouldn't budge, I said if I drive the front wheels off can i look at the meter when I pay the bill - NO.
So I did try, I do understand if I wanted a print out then it might be inaccurate, if not designed for that, and maybe used illegally, but just looking the gauge if a bit different.
 
If that is the case with the weighbridge there then they will run the danger of their customers being overweight on the axle and VOSA look for that more than the total weight. Whatever way you look at it, the revenue they get from penalties is a useful income stream. The motorway ones take your photo compare to the DVLA data base and send out the fine by post, all automatic computorised income. They are on most of the motorways now and will be spread to the others soon. They also give your speed at the same time just to check that the speed limiter in working.
 
GWAYGWAY said:
If that is the case with the weighbridge there then they will run the danger of their customers being overweight on the axle and VOSA look for that more than the total weight. Whatever way you look at it, the revenue they get from penalties is a useful income stream. The motorway ones take your photo compare to the DVLA data base and send out the fine by post, all automatic computorised income. They are on most of the motorways now and will be spread to the others soon. They also give your speed at the same time just to check that the speed limiter in working.
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I`m more than willing to learn and found these interesting reading,

Weigh in motion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Transports Friend - Weigh in Motion Sensors (WIMS)

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vosa-weigh-in-motion-wim-sites-f0004537

Thanks for highlighting this.
 
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