{"id":8970,"date":"2016-06-16T16:31:06","date_gmt":"2016-06-16T16:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/?p=8970"},"modified":"2016-06-16T16:31:06","modified_gmt":"2016-06-16T16:31:06","slug":"van-overloading-convictions-rose-by-19-last-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/archives\/8970","title":{"rendered":"Van overloading convictions rose by 19% last year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1048\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/trafic-loaded-224x300.jpg\" alt=\"Heavily-loaded van\" width=\"224\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/trafic-loaded-224x300.jpg 224w, https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/trafic-loaded.jpg 337w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 224px) 100vw, 224px\" \/>Overloading vans is a\u00a0big\u00a0problem. The number of convictions for overloading rose by 19% from 290 to 345 during the last financial year, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/uploads\/system\/uploads\/attachment_data\/file\/479517\/dvsa-enf-07-top-10-light-goods-vehicle-lgv-offences-for-prosecution.csv\/preview\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">government figures<\/a>. Although this figure is pretty low, it&#8217;s worth noting that the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA)\u00a0is\u00a0increasingly good\u00a0at identifying and targeting overloading vans.<\/p>\n<p>Of the 2,381 vans stopped and weighed by the\u00a0DVSA, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.smmt.co.uk\/2016\/04\/101568\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">88.5% were found to be overloaded<\/a>, up from 84% during the previous year.<\/p>\n<p>If you drive around in a swaying van with a saggy rear end (no pun intended), then expect to be stopped and perhaps fined. The average fine for van overloading\u00a0during the 2014\/15\u00a0tax year was \u00a3751.74. That&#8217;s a fair chunk of money.<\/p>\n<p>I suspect that\u00a0the van overloading is\u00a0probably made worse\u00a0by the fact that many van drivers and operators\u00a0are not in the transport business &#8212; vans are just a\u00a0means of\u00a0shifting their stuff from job to job.<\/p>\n<p>The SMMT estimates that implementing a HGV-style licensing regime for van operators could cost businesses \u00a32.6bn. That&#8217;s not something any of us want to face, so as van owners and users it behoves us to\u00a0make sure that we aren&#8217;t the cause of the problem.<\/p>\n<p>Learn about the weight of the stuff you carry in your van, don&#8217;t carry equipment or materials that aren&#8217;t needed\u00a0and think of driving a van as a serious part of your job.\u00a0If you&#8217;re\u00a0unsure where to start and are looking for more tips, check out\u00a0this DVSA video on overloading:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lVY0AhDhsJc\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>(For more information, visit\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.van-smart.uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">www.van-smart.uk<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Van operators\u00a0and drivers\u00a0are\u00a0not subject to any of the regulation and training requirements imposed upon HGV operators. And\u00a0that&#8217;s good news &#8212; modern vans are safe, easy to drive and extremely useful.<\/p>\n<p>But with a record 4m vans now\u00a0in use on UK roads, we think it\u00a0may now be time for drivers and employers to take a stricter approach to compliance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Van overloading appears to be a serious problem, with conviction numbers up 19% last year and an average fine of \u00a3751. Find out how to avoid problems with your vans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1048,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[2017,310],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8970"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8970"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8970\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8974,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8970\/revisions\/8974"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}