Tow Legal - Tow Safe
The Procedure
Police motorcyclists intercepted any vehicle that was towing a trailer under 3,500 kg Gross Weight. The vehicle/trailer combination was then directed/escorted to a section of the Lorry Park within the Services. The vehicles individual axles were then weighed by driving across Dynamic Weigh Plates (on loan from Central Weighing), from which the following could be deduced:
The Weigh Plates in use were not “Calibrated on Site”, so the findings were indicative. In the event of a potentially serious indication of “overweight” the vehicles in question were escorted to a calibrated Weigh-Bridge.
After weighing, the vehicles were examined, driver & towing vehicle details were taken and the towed vehicle was inspected.
Utilising the database provided by Towsafe International (who were on site), together with examination of the towing vehicles VIN plate, it was possible to ascertain if the vehicles were overloaded, either with regard to their own Gross Weight or with regard to their towing capacity or Gross Train Weight. Furthermore, the Towsafe database lists the permitted operating weights for the vast majority of the caravans currently in use.
Of particular concern was the issue of nose-weights. Where the towbar was plated, the plate indicated the maximum allowable vertically imposed load (or nose-weight). Where there was no plate evident, the information was invariably available from the Towsafe database.
There follows:
