splitter van woes

[soundmanjim]

I've just come back from The Great Escape festival (Brighton) this weekend, having taken my lot (Baddies) and done their sound at a venue as part of the show; on the way back going around the m25 we were stopped by VOSA and my van was put on the weighbridge and I was 450kg overweight!

I had no idea I had overloaded the vehicle, I had a full drumkit, two fender champs, an ashdown combo and 4x10 cab, plus the bands otfits and other sundry gear - I also didnt realise the gross weight of the vehicle was 3.5 tonne; I thought that was how much it could carry (doh)! The van was handling fine and didnt look like it was overloaded, it was sitting level- apparenly it was a random stop, and it didnt help that the blokes were all p*****g up the side of it when dear old VOSA turned up! lol.

The upshot of this, was that I had to leave the band at the weighbridge station so they could get a cab to the next travelodge and I had to take the gear back to their rehearsal room, unload it, then go back to the Travel lodge the next day to pick them up.

Now im aware of the legalities regarding overloading, but im confused as to what to do to prevent a nick in future (I was let off);

my splitter is a converted iveco daily 3.5 tonne long wheelbase and has all the creature comforts for the band im contracted to; but now it looks like im going to have to strip out at least 800kg of excess weight in order to stay within legal limits; how do other people get on when they hire splitters? are they even aware there are regs regarding how much weight you can put on a splitter? And even if they do, how to they work out the weight? rule of thumb?

I'm looking to buy a new van and get it properly converted, but now im at a loss to know what I should go for; I like the look for the VW crafters and the new Sprinters look good too but I need a vehicle that I can carry 6 people (including me) plus all their gear, merch and clothes - it's pretty serious as ive got the rest of the year booked with them (plus flippin glasto, reading, leeds, roskilder, bestival, camp bestival and 2000 trees fest on the way) and I need to sort this out soon or I'll lose the contract (and the band will be knackered too as they cant afford to hire a van in).

sorry this is rambling but I dont know what else to do and there isnt much help on the dvla website - the VOSA guy told me to get an operators licence (£3000) and get a more butch van - but thats a tacho isnt it? any advice greatfully recieved!

I'd rather just get a 3.5 tonne van and watch the weight loading.

by the way, im 42 so I can drive up to a 7.5 tonne on my licence as I passed donkeys ago.

Lasty - could I get away with using a camper van instead?

what do you lot reckon?

Jim H

[pete]

Don't even think about the camper van thing.
Yes a butcher van would mean an O Licence and a Tacho.

[haymere]

its an absolute pest, the answer is either

1/ get the lightest and biggest 3.5t you can probably a mwb merc

2/ get a trailer

3/ as the man says get an op license but this will take months, cost money and you will need premise for it to be licensed to as hey go thro a public consultation before yo are granted

mark

[Mark]

Hi Jim. this is the same problem Savilles are having at the moment, for a mec sprinter of iveco daily at 3.5 leaves you with a pay load just shy of 1200KG, in that case we have been loading the van way over it max limits for years.
If you get caught more than once then that's when fines happen and points begin to be given out (on the drivers head!) not the person that owns the van.
The only way to get around this is get a HGV. It's expensive but iveco do a 5Tone daily, which is classed as a HGV (over 3.5t) which means you need an operators licence and a HGV licence which can be a class 2 uptoo 18t ridgid.
I only know this as i now have to do a hgv to upgrade all the vans as a result of the law,

Who'd a thought eh!