3.5tonne Lorrys..? Can someone enlighten me!

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XmisshorsestyleX

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Hiya,
I was under the impression that anyone with a standard driving licence was able to drive up to 3.5tonnes laden weight (can you tell I know sod all about cars/lorrys!) so I saw a nice tidy lorry yesterday, but the guy who owned it said that I wasnt able to drive it as it has twin rear wheels..? Now is this correct??
Thanks in advance xx
 
As far as I was aware the number of wheels it has doesn't matter...not sure though, tbh...
confused.gif
 
Wouldn't have thought it made any difference as long as it is a 3.5 tonne lorry. Best to check with DVLA though. If you are considering buying one, made sure you check the unladen weight first as 3.5 tonne is the gross weight - i.e. with horses, passengers, tack, fuel etc. For instance if it weighs 3 tonnes unladen, you would have a problem!
 
Thanks Meltdown, someone has brought it already for me to drive about to shows etc. I will be sure to get the lorry weighed before I take it anywhere. Well, saying that! I havent passed my test yet its on the 26th of july so hopefully fingers crossed ill pass! I will be driving it about alot before I attempt to put any horses in it aswell, it also needs abit of work doing before it goes anywhere. I think my best bet is to ring DVLA to be 100% sure.
Thanks xx
 
Hi on a standard car license you can drive upto 3.5 ton, I have a 3.5 ton horse box myself, which although I have a licence to drive upto 7.5 ton I need to tow a trailer on the back for my horse drawn carriages, so this was the easy answer for me.
However if you go down the route of getting a 3.5 ton lorry make sure it can carry the weight you need to carry as some classed as 3.5 ton are actually only 2.9 ton, so if the truck weighs in at 2 ton unladen you can only carry one large horse, there will be a weighting plate usually on the drivers door step or door pillar which will state the axel weights, mine is a LDV 400 and the front axel can take 1500KG and the back axel can take 2600KG so although its badged and on the log book as a 3.5 ton its really a 4.1 ton so probably should not be driven on a standard car license. My truck weighs in at about 2.5 ton so I have 1600Kg of load or 2 big cobs and all their gear and still be on the right side of the law.

Hope that helps

Martin
 
Martin you are confusing your individual axle weights with the overall weight of your 3.5 tonne vehicle.

These axle weights are shown on your plating and are the maximum that can be put on each individual axle but the overall weight must not exceed 3.5 tonne. Therefor if your lorry weighs 2.5 tonne you only have the maximum of 1 tonne to play with. You do not take the weight of each axle and add them together to get your overall weight. You should also find a load train weight on the plate.

If you are stopped by VOSA who normally weight by individual axle they can make you unload to bring the vehicle into the correct weight before you are allowed to continue your journey.
 
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