MotorHome speed imits

Just found out I have been speeding!  I drive my Motorhome at a steady 60 in national speed limits but as it weighs in at 3.88 tones I'm only aloud to do 50 mph on single carriageways! And 60 mph on Dual Carriageways! 70 mph on Motorways.
The last two don’t matter to me but I have always driven at 60 (road conditions allowing) on single carriageways.
https://www.gov.uk/speed-limits

Looks like I might have done too, according to the note further down that page.
Although my van is below 3.05t, when I used to use it for my business before I retired, I used to carry demonstration kit to show my HVAC service engineer customers, so apparently it was classed as a goods vehicle so presumably subject to the lower limits.

Mind you, it is taxed as a PLG (Private/Light Goods) anyway - not sure of the relevance of that?

SSlleepy wrote:Just found out I have been speeding!  I drive my Motorhome at a steady 60 in national speed limits but as it weighs in at 3.88 tones I'm only aloud to do 50 mph on single carriageways! And 60 mph on Dual Carriageways! 70 mph on Motorways.
The last two don’t matter to me but I have always driven at 60 (road conditions allowing) on single carriageways.
https://www.gov.uk/speed-limits

It has nothing to do with your maximum weight, but with the unladen weight.  If it's under 3.05 tonnes then it's the same as for a car, over that figure and you are limited to those you quoted.

Of course a MH at maximum 3.88 tonnes is unlikely to be below 3.05 tonnes unladen, but I have always wondered whether anyone has ever been stopped and checked as to what their unladen weight actually is.  Presumably a camera wouldn't be able to distinguish between a MH under the 3.05 and over that?

Trying to find your official vehicle unladen weight, which is not the revenue weight, is far from easy. I have in the past emailed DVLA and asked the question, but no response received.

The other factor is you mustn't be carrying goods for sale. Then you are classified as a van of over 2 tons.

Interesting to read the lower HGV speed limits in Scotland; a place where I always think Goods Vehicles go faster than elsewhere!

https://www.gov.uk/speed-limits

I recall, somewhat sketchily, a couple of articles in MMM some time ago (maybe 2 years ago) where a motorhomer received a speeding ticker for 'exceeding ' the limit  on camera. He/she wasn't speeding because the unladen weight allowed the speed the van was doing.  The person conecerned wrote a letter to MMM telling the pretty awful job that he had to convince the authorities that he was driving perfectly legally.  I believe that in the end, he won, but it was a battle.

sorry about my typo 'ticker' instead of 'ticket!... This had nothing to do with the driver's blood pressure!

merv wrote:sorry about my typo 'ticker' instead of 'ticket!... This had nothing to do with the driver's blood pressure!

Maybe not to begin with, but I bet by the end of it all, his/her blood pressure was probably higher than it was at the start!!

TravelKat wrote:
It has nothing to do with your maximum weight, but with the unladen weight.  If it's under 3.05 tonnes then it's the same as for a car, over that figure and you are limited to those you quoted.

I've always assumed this means the weight of the van before I load it, but just in case I'm being stupid, does is this the case, or the weight of the van before it was decked out with all the interior?

Here is the official definition of Unladen Weight, but how one find what it is for your van, I don't. Similar but lower than MIRO?

https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-weights-explained

PLOUGHLIN wrote:Here is the official definition of Unladen Weight, but how one find what it is for your van, I don't. Similar but lower than MIRO?

https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-weights-explained

Interesting to see that for an electric vehicle the battery is not included. While I can see that its a bit like the fuel in the tank, the weight of the battery "tank" must be considerable.

Thanks for the link.

Seems a bit of a grey area. The first sentence "The unladen weight of any vehicle is the weight of the vehicle when it’s not carrying any passengers, goods or other items." suggests that it could be taken as the weight of the vehicle without the items such as kitchen units, beds etc etc, so just the shell of the MH.

Then the next sentence "It includes the body and all parts normally used with the vehicle or trailer when it’s used on a road." would suggest that the internals are the parts "normally used" on the road, so could be taken either way. I would probably go on the side of caution.

Autosleeper say they allow for coolants oil (12.5lt) and water (10lt), 90% tank of fuel (90lt), spare wheel (I dont have one), Crockery, whasher fluid (7lt), tools, Driver at 75kg (I wish) and Fire extinguisher (2kg). (litres from Mercedes sprinter manual)
if i just remove the ones i know about thats 196.5kg that brings the mass in runnning order of 3395kg down to 3198.5 kg. Unfortunately still over 3.05 tonne.

My unladen weight is on the owners manual for my van, also on the plate under the bonnet.

Pete Taylor wrote:Interesting to read the lower HGV speed limits in Scotland; a place where I always think Goods Vehicles go faster than elsewhere!

https://www.gov.uk/speed-limits

The Scottish Traffic Polis used to be very tolerant with the HGV drivers in my day, as long as you didn't tear the ar*e out of it and drive like a tube.
I've shared many a cup of hot coffee with the local Polis on the A9 at Calvine when the snow gates were closed.
Boaby

If I have it right, nor are you allowed to use lane 3 of a motorway at 3880kgs?....though I am not sure that is right?

Don't think you are right, as not classed as a goods vehicle nor required to have speed limiter fitted. Rule 265 of Highway Code :-

Rule 265

The right-hand lane of a motorway with three or more lanes MUST NOT be used (except in prescribed circumstances) if you are driving

• any vehicle drawing a trailer
  
• a goods vehicle with a maximum laden weight exceeding 3.5 tonnes but not exceeding 7.5 tonnes, which is required to be fitted with a speed limiter
  
• a goods vehicle with a maximum laden weight exceeding 7.5 tonnes
  
• a passenger vehicle with a maximum laden weight exceeding 7.5 tonnes constructed or adapted to carry more than eight seated passengers in addition to the driver
  
• a passenger vehicle with a maximum laden weight not exceeding 7.5 tonnes which is constructed or adapted to carry more than eight seated passengers in addition to the driver, which is required to be fitted with a speed limiter.
  

A 60 mph limit on single carriageway 'A' roads in my home county of Derbyshire is now a distant memory. Along with several other counties we now have a blanket 50mph limit on all such roads. Mind you, it's back to the national limit as soon as you venture onto lesser roads. A bit daft if you ask me.
Al.

Yup !! Lincolnshire is another county, we seem to have 4 or 5 different speed limit changes in a one and a half mile of road, on the A52 here..........get quite confused. (not only do I have to remember where I'm going, I have to remember what the last speed sign said, before I'm at the next one ) I think the highway dept: had a surplus of unwanted road signs to be used up. .......Oh for the good old days, 30mph in built up areas, and drive to the conditions of the road for all the rest.

Not too far from me in Cheshire is an A road which used to be 60mph, then 40 mph, now 30mph. Turning off it is a tiny, winding lane, with grass between the two strips of tarmac; speed limit: 60mph.