It’s always been possible to drive vans under 3.5t on a standard car license – and consequently many van drivers assume that the same rules and speed limits apply to them as when they are driving a car.

Unfortunately, that’s not true.

Car speed limits only apply to vans of under 2 tonnes maximum laden weight – meaning that any Transit-sized van is excluded.

Instead, a seperate set of speed limits apply; for vehicles with a maximum laden weight between 2 tonnes and 7.5 tonnes (all Transits, Sprinters, etc.).

Here are the speed limits that apply to Transits and similar vans:

Single Carriageways: 50mph

Dual Carriageways: 60mph

Motorways: 70mph

The fact that a great many van drivers either ignore or don’t know about these limits doesn’t count for anything, unfortunately. Here’s what Sergeant Spence of North Yorkshire police had to say about van speed limits in a recent interview with the Bradford Telegraph & Argus:

“However, we have found that a great many van drivers wrongly presume the speed limits for a van are the same as for a car.

“This simply is not a plausible excuse.”

In other words, ignorance is no excuse and they will ticket you anyway…

Don’t say I didn’t warn you. (See the Highway Code for more details)