Scottish 7 Ton Speed Limits

[m30]

Hi folks,
as the title suggests, I'm trying to find the speed limits for Scotland. We go quite regularly across the A75 to Dumfries, Dalbeattie and Ae, and everytime i turn off the motorway, I realise i still haven't found out for sure the speed limits that apply to us.
Our motorhome is 7 tonnes gross, and is registered as a motorcaravan on the v5.
I can find speed limits for almost every class of vehicle, except motorhomes as heavy as ours.

Thanks in advance
Stu

 

[wildebus]

Hi folks,
as the title suggests, I'm trying to find the speed limits for Scotland. We go quite regularly across the A75 to Dumfries, Dalbeattie and Ae, and everytime i turn off the motorway, I realise i still haven't found out for sure the speed limits that apply to us.
Our motorhome is 7 tonnes gross, and is registered as a motorcaravan on the v5.
I can find speed limits for almost every class of vehicle, except motorhomes as heavy as ours.

Thanks in advance
Stu

As over 3.05t Unladen Weight with very little doubt, you would be subject to normal HGV Commercial limits. And possibly in Scotland these are lower than rest of UK (but that may be for over 7.5t only)

Edit: lower Scotland limits just for over 7.5t - Speed limits - GOV.UK

 

[phillybarbour]

A little off topic, but unless you have a different van than your picture it will not be be 7000kg. It’s likely to be in the range 3500 to 4500kg.

 

[m30]

The Euramobil in my picture has now been replaced with our 7 ton Iveco Daily self build.
Here it is as off last week, but its in at the painters as we speak.


Back to the speed limits. England and Wales limits i get, it whether i can do 40 or 50 on single carraigeways in Scotland that i'm struggling with. Does the fact i am just under 7.5t mean that i can do 50?

Stu

 

[mark61]

Why do you think you would be limited to 40MPH on a single carraigeway in Scotland.

A. Registered as a Motor Caravan so 50 MPH

B. Even if registered as a Goods Vehicle, you are not more than 7.5 Tonnes, so 50 MPH again.

The 40 MPH limit in Scotland is only for Good vehicles over 7.5 Tonnes.

 

[Nabsim]

We are on Skye at present and there are some places where it states a lower limit for vehicles over 7.5 t but these are signed where they apply. Apart from that its same as Hairydog says

 

[phillybarbour]

The Euramobil in my picture has now been replaced with our 7 ton Iveco Daily self build.
Here it is as off last week, but its in at the painters as we speak.
View attachment 69984

Back to the speed limits. England and Wales limits i get, it whether i can do 40 or 50 on single carraigeways in Scotland that i'm struggling with. Does the fact i am just under 7.5t mean that i can do 50?

Stu

Van looking great, but awning looks low what is the thinking there?

 

[Tonybvi]

The only difference between Scotland and the rest of the UK is for HGV over 7.5 ton on roads other than the A9 Perth to Inverness.

 

[wildebus]

Van looking great, but awning looks low what is the thinking there?

Still have a clear view out the window with the Awning out I would say.

I think this van is a fair bit bigger than it might appear from the photo as there is no direct reference to compare against.

 

[m30]

Why do you think you would be limited to 40MPH on a single carraigeway in Scotland.

A. Registered as a Motor Caravan so 50 MPH

B. Even if registered as a Goods Vehicle, you are not more than 7.5 Tonnes, so 50 MPH again.

The 40 MPH limit in Scotland is only for Good vehicles over 7.5 Tonnes.

That is the answer i was hoping for, but couldn't find. Thank you.

The awning is about 7' from the ground. I had a couple of reasons for fitting it there;
1. The total height of the van is about 3300, and if i had fit it at hi level above the fridge vent, i would have had to wind out almost all of the awning before i would be able to reach the legs, and there are no internal high level lockers further back than the fridge, and i was concerned about over stressing the side.
2. With the awning at high level, we felt we may only get shade at mid day, anything before or after, and the angle of the sun would come under the awning.

The motorhome is 8m long, as i have said 7 tonnes gross, with a 1 ton tail lift to carry my BMW GS, 500 litre fresh water tank, 800mm domestic shower....

Here's a picture from earlier last year



Cheers Guys
Stu

 

[phillybarbour]

That is the answer i was hoping for, but couldn't find. Thank you.

The awning is about 7' from the ground. I had a couple of reasons for fitting it there;
1. The total height of the van is about 3300, and if i had fit it at hi level above the fridge vent, i would have had to wind out almost all of the awning before i would be able to reach the legs, and there are no internal high level lockers further back than the fridge, and i was concerned about over stressing the side.
2. With the awning at high level, we felt we may only get shade at mid day, anything before or after, and the angle of the sun would come under the awning.

The motorhome is 8m long, as i have said 7 tonnes gross, with a 1 ton tail lift to carry my BMW GS, 500 litre fresh water tank, 800mm domestic shower....

Here's a picture from earlier last year

View attachment 69995



Cheers Guys
Stu

I thought my water tank was a good size at 170 litres. That will give you a good range, love the big bike in the back.

 

[trevskoda]

Ivecos are heavy,my 22ft bus is 6.3 ton,very nice van you got there,health to wear.

 

[wildebus]

I always reckon on a tank of water being good for eight days, and top up after that, but last week were were in a hard water area so we thought we'd try not to. We got home after ten and a half days away, just as the water ran out.
That's two people and 140 litres. So it looks like we managed on seven litres per person per day. I guess we'd use more in hot summer weather.

the presence of a Shower is the big thing I reckon. I don't have one in my van but have a 'strip wash' via the sink and bathmat.
I went away to the Moffat meet on the Saturday with my pair of 25L water containers full. I got home on the Friday (so 6 full days) and used under 30L in total in that time (I don't carry large 5L or 10L containers for drinking/cooking water, just a few small bottles for the fridge for a cool drink) - so that would be around 5L per day per person (on my lonesome)

 

[Nabsim]

For us it depends on how plentiful water is. I can manage myself on very little if there isn’t water available but when both of us and the dogs are touring we must use 30 or so litres a day. If we are showering daily it would be more

 

[m30]

Thanks for the replies folks. Our thinking behind the large water tank, was that if we are only going to be moving short distances out in the wilds such as Scotland, or as last August into the Pyranees, we can fill up use the shower as much as we like, and still last a week or ten days without worrying. An additional toilet cassette also adds to this.

Stu

 

[wildebus]

I take your point, but as far as I can see, the only benefit of having an awning is to keep the van and the windows in shade in hot weather when there are no trees to do the job.

Shelter from rain as well. When I had my Master with a Thule cassette awning I often used to unwind the awning a short way to act as ...well, an awning … over the door so I could leave it open and not have the rain come in (although that purpose wouldn't match how the OPs awning is fitted anyway).

My Awning on my current van is also the roof of the Fiamma Privacy/Safari Room for extended living space.

 

[yeoblade]

That is the answer i was hoping for, but couldn't find. Thank you.

The awning is about 7' from the ground. I had a couple of reasons for fitting it there;
1. The total height of the van is about 3300, and if i had fit it at hi level above the fridge vent, i would have had to wind out almost all of the awning before i would be able to reach the legs, and there are no internal high level lockers further back than the fridge, and i was concerned about over stressing the side.
2. With the awning at high level, we felt we may only get shade at mid day, anything before or after, and the angle of the sun would come under the awning.

The motorhome is 8m long, as i have said 7 tonnes gross, with a 1 ton tail lift to carry my BMW GS, 500 litre fresh water tank, 800mm domestic shower....

Here's a picture from earlier last year

View attachment 69995

Cheers Guys
Stu

That's a great self build, what was the base vehicle originally?

 

[m30]

Well silly me, I thought the awning was for sitting under when its well sunny, thats why we fit it low down to provide a useful amount of shade at ground level.

The vehicle had spent 5 years owned by the Ministry for Justice, with a box on the back, used for transporting prisoners to and from courts and jail. This is our very vehicle, but we bought it just as a chassis cab, we the had in stretched by 900mm and a new body built on to it using 25mm grp faced styrofoam sides, with a 50mm roof.


It had 176,000 miles on in when we bought it, with about 10 pages of full service history

Stu

 

[mark61]

Well silly me, I thought the awning was for sitting under when its well sunny, thats why we fit it low down to provide a useful amount of shade at ground level.

The vehicle had spent 5 years owned by the Ministry for Justice, with a box on the back, used for transporting prisoners to and from courts and jail. This is our very vehicle, but we bought it just as a chassis cab, we the had in stretched by 900mm and a new body built on to it using 25mm grp faced styrofoam sides, with a 50mm roof.
View attachment 70015

It had 176,000 miles on in when we bought it, with about 10 pages of full service history

Stu

A lot of large motorhomes have an awning lower down roughly where you have fitted yours, makes sense to me too.

 

[wildebus]

Fair enough. I use my awning most weekends when I am away