Principal legislation covering load safety on the road is the Road Traffic Act (1991). The Health & Safety at Work Act (1974) and the Workplace (Health & Safety at Work) Regulations (1992) also play a part when it comes to the loading and unloading of vehicles.
Road Traffic Act (1991)
This states that:
“A person is guilty of an offence if they use… a motor vehicle or trailer on the road when… the weight, position or distribution of its load, or the manner in which it is secured, is such that the use of the motor vehicle or trailer involves a danger of injury to any person.”
There should be safe systems of work for loading, unloading, moving, sheeting and safe access on vehicles at all times.
Load securing systems
The load securing systems you use should be appropriate for both:
These may include:
Whoever is responsible for loading a vehicle needs to consider other important factors like axle weights and vehicle stability. These are the fundamental requirements in making sure vehicles are safe before starting a journey.
Risk assessment
Risk assessment is a legal requirement that helps you to identify issues and take reasonably practicable steps to control the risks.
This should help reduce the chances of problems occurring, but you should think about what happens if the load shifts in transit.
Drivers should not be expected to deal with an unsafe load alone at the roadside.
Read guidance about risk management on the HSE website.
Responsibility for loading vehicles
If you are responsible for loading vehicles, you should make sure that they are loaded so the load remains in a safe condition during:
You should decide:
What will happen if I overload my vehicle?
An overloaded vehicle will not only cause damage to roads and to your vehicle but will also put your drivers and other road users at risk. Overloading a vehicle:
Responsibility, legislation and guidelines
Ensuring a vehicle is not overloaded is the responsibility of both the operator and the driver. In addition to this, if anyone else causes or permits an overloaded vehicle they may also be charged with committing an offence.
All companies have a ‘duty of care’ under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1999 for the safety of employees at work. If someone is driving on your behalf, they are as much ‘at work’ as if they were in a factory or an office. This means that an employer must do all they can to ensure the safety of that driver, including having policies in place to ensure that their vehicle is not overloaded. The Act also places a duty of care on the employer to carry out suitable risk assessments.
The operator has a moral and legal responsibility, which is shared with the driver of the vehicle.
The Road Traffic Act 1991 requires “vehicle users” to ensure that vehicles are not overloaded. If a vehicle is found to be overloaded, both the driver and operator could be prosecuted or cautioned. Legislation imposes fines of up to £5,000 for each offence. That means a fine for each overloaded axle plus any overloading on the total weight.
In addition, if a vehicle is dangerously overloaded the driver could face a charge of Dangerous Driving, which carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison.
Other offences within the Road Traffic Act include refusal to allow the vehicle to be weighed and obstruction of an officer, which also carry a maximum fine of £5,000.
If a vehicle is overloaded and results in someone being killed, both driver and operator could face going to jail for Manslaughter or Death by Dangerous Driving**
**It should be noted that with effect from 27 July 2022, the Highway Code was updated and
penalties for:
The maximum sentence for both offences has increased from 14 years’ imprisonment to life imprisonment.
In addition, a new offence has also been created for causing serious injury by dangerous driving. This carries a maximum penalty of 2 years’ imprisonment, an unlimited fine and an obligatory driving disqualification.
The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 require that “all parts and accessories and the weight distribution, packing and adjustment of their loads shall be such that no danger is likely to be caused to any person in or on the vehicle or trailer or on the road.” Additionally, “no motor vehicle or trailer must be used for any purpose for which it is unsuited as to cause or be likely to cause danger or nuisance to any person.”
Information on permitted gross weights of vehicles operating in the UK is contained in The Road Vehicles
(Authorised Weight) Regulations 1998, Road Vehicles (Authorised Weight) (amendment) Regulations 2000, Construction, and Use Regulations 1986. These include the weights for different vehicle types, combinations and individual axles.
Driver understanding
Companies need to have a “safety culture” in place, which ensures that drivers understand weight legislation and immediately report any concerns that a vehicle is illegally overloaded to their manager. Their manager should investigate all concerns immediately to prevent overloading.
What will happen if one of my vehicles is overloaded?
If one of your vehicles is found to be overloaded by an enforcement officer it can result in a prohibition notice, which will prevent the driver from continuing their journey until the weight is corrected. This may involve the goods being unloaded to bring the weight down or redistributed (in axle overload cases).
Your driver will then be issued with a ‘removal of prohibition notice’ to continue their journey.
In some cases, the driver may be issued with a ‘direction to drive notice’, which allows them to travel to a specified place to off-load.
If your vehicle is overloaded on the road, you have committed an offence under the Road Traffic Act 1988. See the ‘responsibility, legislation and guidelines’ section above for further information.
What precautions should I take when towing a trailer?
Towing a trailer puts greater demand on the vehicle and the driver. Information on acceptable trailer towing weights can be found in vehicle handbooks. You should ensure that:
The vehicle does not exceed either the Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) or the Gross Train Weight (GTW). The GVW is the maximum permitted weight of the vehicle (plus any load it is carrying), while the GTW is the maximum permitted weight of the vehicle plus any trailer being towed (and any load being carried in the vehicle and trailer)
Any vehicle that has a chassis plate, which is towing a trailer, has the maximum GTW added to its chassis plate. Otherwise, if the vehicle is weighed at a checkpoint, the total weight could appear to exceed the maximum gross weight.
Any load being carried in the trailer is kept as low as possible and near to the axle.
Van Overloads
To ensure that your vehicle is not overloaded you should:
Weight limits and loading
Your van has a maximum it is allowed to weigh when loaded. This is called the ‘design gross weight’, which you can find on your van’s vehicle identification number (VIN) plate. It is sometimes known as the ‘gross vehicle weight’ or ‘laden weight’, but means the same thing.
What the weight limit includes
It is the maximum the van is allowed to weigh, including the weight of the:
Check your van’s weight
You can check how much your van weighs at a local weighbridge.
Overloaded vans
Your van’s performance and safety will be affected if you overload it or its individual axles.
You can be fined up to £300 or get a court summons if your van exceeds its maximum permitted axle weight.
Secure your goods
Some vans do not have a bulkhead. In the event of an accident, the contents of your cargo area could end up in the cab if they are not secured properly.
Load your goods evenly throughout the cargo area, with the heaviest items at the bottom. Do not overload the individual axles.
Use appropriate restraints to secure your load, like netting and straps.
Principles of Load Safety
When a vehicle changes direction – cornering on roundabouts, overtaking etc., – friction is not enough to stop unsecured cargo from moving. (See Figs 1 and 2) It is wrong to assume that the weight of the load will keep it in position. In fact, heavier loads are more likely to move when the vehicle is in motion due to their kinetic energy being greater. Under heavy braking the weight acting in a forward direction can be equal to that acting down on the vehicle. Therefore, a load that is not restrained will not be secure.
The forces acting on the load during braking increase with the rate of deceleration and the weight of the load. So, when the vehicle brakes the load will want to continue to move in its original direction. The heavier the load and the harder you brake, the more the load will try to move.
Friction alone cannot be relied upon to keep the load in place. When the vehicle is moving, vertical movement caused by bumps will reduce any restraining force due to friction. This can reduce to zero if the load even momentarily leaves the bed of the truck.
It requires much more force to stop a load that has started moving than it does to prevent movement in the first place. This ‘battering ram’ effect increases rapidly with the increase in 15 Code of Practice: Safety of Loads on Vehicles distance through which the load moves relative to the vehicle. It is essential therefore that the load is restrained in such a way that movement of the load on the vehicle is prevented.
The basic principle upon which the Code of Practice is based is that the combined strength of the load restraint system must be sufficient to withstand a force not less than the total weight of the load forward, so as to prevent the load moving under severe braking, and half of the weight of the load backwards and sideways (see Fig 3).
Vertical movement may occur but this should be overcome if the above conditions are met. This applies to all vehicles no matter what the size, from small vans to the largest goods vehicles. These principles are based on the maximum forces that are likely to be experienced during normal road use. Greater forces may be encountered if the vehicle, for example, is involved in an accident. The principles should therefore be regarded as minimum requirements.
Load security information
Load securing: vehicle operator guidance – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk
These more comprehensive documents underpin the current approach to enforcement and should be familiar to anybody involved in the movement of goods via the road network.
For the benefit of this guidance, any reference to a vehicle should be read as any vehicle, trailer or combination unless specified otherwise.
Click here to download the Driving for Better Business – Van Driver Toolkit
