For help, advice and discussion about stuff not related to aviation. Play nice: no religion, no politics and no axe grinding please.
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By stevelup
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1839987
Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984

Contravention of a weight restriction order is a criminal offence punishable on summary conviction with a maximum penalty of £1000. Both the driver and owner/operator of the vehicle can be liable for these offences.
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By Miscellaneous
#1839988
Yes. If caught you can be prosecuted.

Round signs with red border is an order/prohibition. Check the highway code.

EDIT: I hope your friend was properly licensed to be driving it for the purpose. :wink:
Last edited by Miscellaneous on Mon Apr 12, 2021 3:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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By PeteSpencer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1839992
There's one such sign on a small B road bridge over a small stream in a village near us:

It was put up when short cutting HGVs were making the bridge sag.

Immediate outcry as it meant buses would have to unload their pax, walk them over and re-board on the other side.

So: the sign remains and full buses, well over 7.5T, are allowed over.

And the bridge continues increasingly to sag..... :roll:
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By Pete L
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1840010
I sometimes wish we had a few where we live - we are almost surrounded by old style canal bridges that get broken on a regular basis. Difficult one though - our local major employment site - an old airfield - would have to close if TPTB got serious about only running HGVs down suitable roads.


Oxfordshire use them a lot but not Bucks.
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By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1840015
Round red signs are prohibitions and as @stevelup said their legal basis is the road traffic act.
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By eltonioni
#1840065
Perhaps your friend really needs to consult a civil engineer to avoid imminent death by plummeting.

:pray:
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By Andrew Sinclair
#1840088
I should come clean here, I have not transgressed any law, well not on the ground :lol:

I live near a quarry which has been fine for the last decade, the drivers leaving the quarry are fine but increasingly delivery drivers with, sometimes, 44 tonne articulated vehicles approach the quarry the wrong way and pass through the HGV prohibition but when they get to the very tight turn at the end they are forced to reverse back down the road. This causes all manner of problems not least of which was damage to my wall and gates.

The local parish council are ashtray on motorcycle territory, with shares in bluerinsehaircolouring.com and thus enforcement action is needed. I just wanted to check whether I was off beam when thinking that laws had been broken.

I will engage our legal adviser tomorrow and let her sort it out.
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By rikur_
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1840128
@Instructor Errant Several posts, but so far no complete answer....

There are two main types of weight restrictions that can be applied to roads:

a) Environmental weight restrictions (EWR):
A restriction imposed for environmental reasons on routes which have been identified as unsuitable for use by heavy goods vehicles, and where there is a better and equally convenient alternative. An environmental weight restriction will usually only apply to vehicles with a maximum gross weight of 7.5 tonnes or above. The maximum gross weight is the maximum permitted weight of the vehicle when fully loaded. They do not apply to:
- vehicles making deliveries or collections at premises within the restriction
- vehicles working on or near the roads in question
- emergency service and military vehicles
- buses, coaches and other public service vehicles

b) Structural weight restrictions (SWR):
A structural weight restriction will only be used on routes that have weak structures, such as bridges, that cannot bear vehicles over a certain weight and can only safely accommodate a lower load. Restrictions of this type will typically cover only short sections, where the structure is located. Unlike environmental weight restrictions, a structural restriction will not normally include an exemption for access as the structure may fail should it be overloaded.

The sign shown in is an EWR, and therefore the above exemptions apply.

Enforcement is a police responsibility. However environmental weight restrictions are particularly difficult to enforce due to the exemption they carry for vehicles requiring legitimate access. Each vehicle must be stopped to check for this (only the police can stop a vehicle). ANPR alone cannot be used to enforce EWRs.