Driving over 70

gassygassy wrote:I sometimes wonder what happens if say you have a 3650mgw plated motorhome which has been downplated to 3500, you are over 70 and stopped and weighed and the camper weighs in at 3600. I would have thought you have a good case for saying the vehicle itself isn't overloaded because the manufacturer designed it for 3650. However you would obviously be doing wrong in driving something which you are obviously not capable of driving. Nowadays you are fit and able to hold down a brick hod carrier's job until your 70th birthday before you get your pension (you must be, the Govt says so - you don't need a doctors certificate for that).  However, the day after you suddenly need a certificate for which you have to pay, in order to do what you were doing yesterday. So I suppose in the  case of the 3500 / 3600 / 3650 scenario you would be done for driving something for which you are not qualified, although you used to be qualified and the vehicle itself is built to take that weight. They didn't suddenly come and take away my 7 GCE 'O' levels did they?

Of course I have an interest here, I have a Bourton which originally was 3650 (or was it 3850, I cant remember and it's freezing and dark outside so I don't want to go and look) but has been downplated to 3500. I had it weighed with all the Memsahib's wardrobe stuffed full, her library of books, knitting kit, etc, full (inadequate) water tank and fuel tank, spare wheel, bike carrier and so on and it was 3680. So I went home, removed the satellite dish, TV, spare wheel, rear corner steadies, half emptied the water tank, drove till it had 3/4 fuel tank, removed a lot of unnecessary personal stuff and returned to the weighing place. The chap there was very helpful, he knew exactly why I wanted it weighed, and now it was down to 3350. Then I thought I had best replace the spare wheel, but remove the air conditioning off the roof and replace it with a standard Fiamma roof light. Then I found the air con was stuck to the roof pretty well, and that it weighed 32kg. Although 32kg would be a worthwhile saving, I used to lift 30kg gas boilers on to wall hangers, and I know how heavy that is. I couldn't remove the air con without a crane, so I left it in place - though it will never be used. The microwave will be next to go,that must weigh a bit. It's only use is as a bread bin after all. I'm not going to spend £500 on a lithium battery just to save a few kg.

Has anyone been stopped and weighed? In 60 years of driving motorhomes I haven't. But I do wonder what would happen if I was stopped and weighed 3600.