I have just returned to the Island after being away at a race meeting after getting of the Boat in Douglas I was pulled over by the Police and told I was to have my van checked over. I disputed this request until told the reasons, the reasons given is that they wanted to know what weight the van was with bikes in and this was to be done to create a data base for the TT week.

I have a Iveco 35s12 van, in the van was one CBR600, 3 sets of wheels and associated tools ect. On the scales the van with drive and passenger came in at 3612kgs, I was then told The van was overweight and could not go on the public roads.

I have been traveling with the IOMSP with this van and 2 bikes for the past two seasons without any problems and it has nothing todo with the landing stage or ramps at any of the ports. What the F are they trying to do.


The local IOM Police have just phoned me after having checked my van getting of the boat tonight. They have confirmed that My Iveco 35s12 with 1 bike , wheels and tools ect will not be allowed to leave the port until the weight is reduced to its plate.

They have also said that all vans coming into the IOM on the lead up to TT will be put on the scales and any van over the limit will be refused entry.

How many nails does the TT coffin have. Most of the irish and private lads travel to the TT with loaded vans due to costs etc.

So how heavy did they said the Iveco should be?

I take it they let you drive away??

Myself and a mate are travelling in his. (I think its the same model going by pictures)

We plan in taking 3 bikes in the back.

I must get him to look at his tickets...

I found this @ http://www.steam-packet.com/en/TermsAndConditions

VEHICLE MEASUREMENT LIMITATIONS

Please ensure that your vehicle adheres to the maximum limitations detailed. If not, you may not be permitted onboard the vessel.
Ben-my-Chree: Height: 4 metres. Length Single vehicle: 12 metres. Vehicle towing trailer: 12 metres. Width 2.5 metres. Maximum Weight: 7.5 tonnes (other than coaches). The Ben-my-Chree can accommodate larger vehicles, contact must be made with the Steam Packet Freight Office on (01624) 645620 to confirm requirements prior to booking.
Manannan: Liverpool/ Belfast route restrictions - Height: 3.4 metres. Length Single Vehicle: 6.5metres. Vehicle towing trailer: 10 metres (5 metre towing vehicle and 5 metre trailer). Width: 2 metres. Weight: 4 tonnes. Manannan can accommodate larger vehicles on the Dublin and Heysham routes only, contact must be made with the Steam Packet Freight Office on +44 (0)1624 645 620 to confirm requirements prior to booking. Vehicle dimensions include any attachments which alter the size of the vehicle such as roof boxes, luggage on roof racks, antennae, aerials and bike carriers, etc.

My van has been converted to a race day van, ie sleeping accom in the front half and garage in the back half. Its been on the IOMSP at least 6 return trips this year without any problems. Now TT is near things have changed.
Any van booked on the boat will be put on the scales as per the booked ticked.
If you have booked for 3 passengers traveling on the ticket then they will also have to be in the van when put on the scales. an Iveco 35s12 GVW is 3500kgs, over this then your not be allowed entry.

If the van is overweight it's overweight, insurance would be invalid should you have an accident, and if caught in the UK a hefty fine. The number of times you have travelled is irrelevant.

As you say this will give a headache to some of the boys coming over, piles of gear on the harbour side while they shuttle stuff up to the paddock!!

This check was nothing to do with the Steam Racket by the sound of it, however, in the past they have weighed vans BEFORE boarding, mine was weighed years ago before going on the old Vomit Comet, which I if I remember right had a 3.5 tonne weight limit.

(18-05-2011, 05:19 PM)samthesidecar Wrote: If the van is overweight it's overweight, insurance would be invalid should you have an accident, and if caught in the UK a hefty fine. The number of times you have travelled is irrelevant.

As you say this will give a headache to some of the boys coming over, piles of gear on the harbour side while they shuttle stuff up to the paddock!!

This check was nothing to do with the Steam Racket by the sound of it, however, in the past they have weighed vans BEFORE boarding, mine was weighed years ago before going on the old Vomit Comet, which I if I remember right had a 3.5 tonne weight limit.

Vans only got weighed at Liverpool due to the limits of the landing stage.
As I said on last nights boat was many vans, mine being the only race transporter. The van in front of me was another Iveco jammed full of PVC windows ( back doors could not be shut) I asked the question why that van was not weighed only to be told it was weighed before getting on at Heysham, well I can tell you that was pure Bull poo from the Police as I followed this van all they way through from the M6 to the boat so would have seen if it had been weighed.
For a few years now fans have been putting their bikes in the back of vans to save costs on travel to the TT, it has cost the IOMSP lost fares on riders plus bikes so they are now fighting back with the help of the Police.
I returned to the Douglas Port tonight to see if any other vans were checked by the Police when the boat docked and none were.

And just to clarify a point if a van is emptied of a bike at the port then the owner will be charged an additional frieght charge.

As said on another forum several friends used to ride down to Heysham with their bikes and load them into a mates van for the sailing over to save costs, now they won't be able to do it.

(18-05-2011, 07:17 PM)George Wrote:

(18-05-2011, 05:19 PM)samthesidecar Wrote: If the van is overweight it's overweight, insurance would be invalid should you have an accident, and if caught in the UK a hefty fine. The number of times you have travelled is irrelevant.

As you say this will give a headache to some of the boys coming over, piles of gear on the harbour side while they shuttle stuff up to the paddock!!

This check was nothing to do with the Steam Racket by the sound of it, however, in the past they have weighed vans BEFORE boarding, mine was weighed years ago before going on the old Vomit Comet, which I if I remember right had a 3.5 tonne weight limit.

Vans only got weighed at Liverpool due to the limits of the landing stage.
As I said on last nights boat was many vans, mine being the only race transporter. The van in front of me was another Iveco jammed full of PVC windows ( back doors could not be shut) I asked the question why that van was not weighed only to be told it was weighed before getting on at Heysham, well I can tell you that was pure Bull poo from the Police as I followed this van all they way through from the M6 to the boat so would have seen if it had been weighed.
For a few years now fans have been putting their bikes in the back of vans to save costs on travel to the TT, it has cost the IOMSP lost fares on riders plus bikes so they are now fighting back with the help of the Police.
I returned to the Douglas Port tonight to see if any other vans were checked by the Police when the boat docked and none were.

And just to clarify a point if a van is emptied of a bike at the port then the owner will be charged an additional frieght charge.

As said on another forum several friends used to ride down to Heysham with their bikes and load them into a mates van for the sailing over to save costs, now they won't be able to do it.

Hi George, Anymore news about what is happening on the van weighing story, ?.

Another Local rider had the same problems getting of the seacat last night, in a race type van and got pulled over yet other trade vans were not

My mates Van is a Fiat Ducato. Empty weight is 2500kg

Our ticket outlines length, width, height, weight (3500kg)

After loading up the van we will take it to a weigh bridge to make sure its below 3500kg

Thanks for the heads up!

Isle of Man Harbours has become aware that there is some concern over the weighing of vans on arrival at Douglas Harbour from Steam Packet vessels. I hope the following reassures anybody who has been concerned by some of the earlier comments.

Isle of Man Harbours has had a long established procedure for checking to see that overweight vehicles disembarking from Steam Packet vessels do not get on to the highway network. This procedure has only just been reviewed and was written in conjunction with the Department of Infrastructure’s Chief Vehicle Inspector. The Port Security Officer (PSO) who carried out the original vehicle check, acted entirely in accordance with normal procedure and even arranged for the duty Vehicle Examiner to telephone the driver after he had reached his destination on the Island to verify that the PSO acted properly.

Our procedure is aimed at finding overweight vehicles and giving the driver the opportunity to download the excess on to another vehicle. These drivers are also warned that if they opt to proceed they will be reported to the Police. If the vehicle is slightly overweight and within an agreed margin the driver will be warned that his vehicle is overweight and allowed to proceed. This is what happened to the original complainant.

All articulated freight trailers are check-weighed as this can be carried out easily and quickly given the relatively limited permutations of numbers of axles and gross weights and the relatively small number of vehicles involved. However, given the time and difficulty in dealing with all the other variations of commercial vehicles, from small pickups to furniture removal vans, they are chosen randomly for check-weighing. It is therefore possible that despite this procedure having been in place for several years the complainant has not been stopped previously before his recent disembarkation from Ben-my-Chree when he was stopped for a check-weigh. His van was only 40kg over weight, which is within the agreed margin for a warning, and allowed to proceed. However, the complainant was annoyed at being stopped and checked and disputed the Port Security Officer’s powers. He supplied contact details so that he could be contacted by a Vehicle Examiner. He then drove off Circus Beach and was telephoned later to be advised that the PSO had acted correctly.

Despite the information from the Vehicle Examiner it appears that he was still sufficiently annoyed to put his thoughts on the TT website but unfortunately they contained some inaccuracies. For example:
1. He was telephoned by the Department’s Vehicle Inspector and not the Police. This call appears to have been prompted by his disbelief that the PSO had the powers to stop and weigh his vehicle and was made in order to reassure him.
2. There is no database of disembarking vehicles being established for TT;
3. All incoming vans will not be stopped as this is too time-consuming and would much inconvenience disembarking drivers as well as risk delaying the ship turnaround. Instead the long-standing procedure of random checks will be maintained.

Director of Harbours

Stuck your neck out again, "George" ??

(26-05-2011, 04:21 PM)Isle of Man Harbours Wrote: Isle of Man Harbours has become aware that there is some concern over the weighing of vans on arrival at Douglas Harbour from Steam Packet vessels. I hope the following reassures anybody who has been concerned by some of the earlier comments.

Isle of Man Harbours has had a long established procedure for checking to see that overweight vehicles disembarking from Steam Packet vessels do not get on to the highway network. This procedure has only just been reviewed and was written in conjunction with the Department of Infrastructure’s Chief Vehicle Inspector. The Port Security Officer (PSO) who carried out the original vehicle check, acted entirely in accordance with normal procedure and even arranged for the duty Vehicle Examiner to telephone the driver after he had reached his destination on the Island to verify that the PSO acted properly.

Our procedure is aimed at finding overweight vehicles and giving the driver the opportunity to download the excess on to another vehicle. These drivers are also warned that if they opt to proceed they will be reported to the Police. If the vehicle is slightly overweight and within an agreed margin the driver will be warned that his vehicle is overweight and allowed to proceed. This is what happened to the original complainant.

All articulated freight trailers are check-weighed as this can be carried out easily and quickly given the relatively limited permutations of numbers of axles and gross weights and the relatively small number of vehicles involved. However, given the time and difficulty in dealing with all the other variations of commercial vehicles, from small pickups to furniture removal vans, they are chosen randomly for check-weighing. It is therefore possible that despite this procedure having been in place for several years the complainant has not been stopped previously before his recent disembarkation from Ben-my-Chree when he was stopped for a check-weigh. His van was only 40kg over weight, which is within the agreed margin for a warning, and allowed to proceed. However, the complainant was annoyed at being stopped and checked and disputed the Port Security Officer’s powers. He supplied contact details so that he could be contacted by a Vehicle Examiner. He then drove off Circus Beach and was telephoned later to be advised that the PSO had acted correctly.

Despite the information from the Vehicle Examiner it appears that he was still sufficiently annoyed to put his thoughts on the TT website but unfortunately they contained some inaccuracies. For example:
1. He was telephoned by the Department’s Vehicle Inspector and not the Police. This call appears to have been prompted by his disbelief that the PSO had the powers to stop and weigh his vehicle and was made in order to reassure him.
2. There is no database of disembarking vehicles being established for TT;
3. All incoming vans will not be stopped as this is too time-consuming and would much inconvenience disembarking drivers as well as risk delaying the ship turnaround. Instead the long-standing procedure of random checks will be maintained.

Director of Harbours

You forgot to mention that I pointed out a freight van that was well over weight and had not been stopped, your reply given was that van was weighed at Heyshan, Wrong that van was not weighed at Heysham.
I was also requested at the Port not to go public over my checking, It was said that RANDOM CHECKS were being made on MY type of van as they seem to be getting popular with Race teams.
Yes the inspector did call me and a visit to the Inspector was made, prior to this my van was weighed at another place and weighed 2kg over the 3500kg gvw, it also made the weight at the Vehicle test centre, +- 5% is permitted by VOS.
I also traveled on the Seacat in an unmarked identical van return on Tuesday, there was no visable race vans on the Cat and no vans were checked at the ports ????????????.
If its good for the Goose then make sure its good for the Gander.

---

And I forgot to say that the Test Centre Vehicle Inspector was most helpfull, and for that a big thank you.

Interesting thread, and a bit worrying. Many race vans (LWB converted to half camper) are over the strict 3500 weight in all probability, and cover thousands of miles to race meetings over the course of every year all over the country with no problems.

OK, it may be against the law, but then so is doing 80 on an empty motorway and people don't get too bent out of shape over that. For the drivers, if you do it and take the p*** and get caught that's your lookout but what you don't expect is for the port authorities to take the place of VOSA and start policing weight limits on vehicles that will be using the roads away from the port.

I went over recently with a couple of trail bikes, had a great weekend, though the booking agent did say there was a 3000kg weight limit on the seacat, so I went to Heysham. OK no problems but if somebody had started moaning about the weight of the van the Island could kiss goodbye to any further tourist income from me, and I've spent a fair bit over the years.

In my opinion if the port authorities want to keep tabs on overloaded commercial vehicles this is par for the course, but take it easy on the tourists. Not that they will care about my opinion of course.

while i don't condone the stopping of 'race type' vans instead of all similar vehicles, at the end of the day it's illegal and dangerous, full stop. what [given a worse case scenario] is the difference in stopping distance between a legal, underweight van and an illegal, overweight van? let's just add 2 cwt or an average harley passenger to our 3500kg van. how much longer does it take to stop? the length of real estate a man, woman, little toddler and baby in pushchair would occupy? that's the sobering thought that ought to be in any driver's head. this argument really is as daft as saying 'i'm only one pint over the limit, so i can easily drive home'. discrimination is daft, but stupidity is dafter, sorry. can't believe i just typed all those words without a single f***
cheers, ade!

(28-05-2011, 10:58 PM)Tomcat Wrote: Interesting thread, and a bit worrying. Many race vans (LWB converted to half camper) are over the strict 3500 weight in all probability, and cover thousands of miles to race meetings over the course of every year all over the country with no problems.

OK, it may be against the law, but then so is doing 80 on an empty motorway and people don't get too bent out of shape over that. For the drivers, if you do it and take the p*** and get caught that's your lookout but what you don't expect is for the port authorities to take the place of VOSA and start policing weight limits on vehicles that will be using the roads away from the port.

I went over recently with a couple of trail bikes, had a great weekend, though the booking agent did say there was a 3000kg weight limit on the seacat, so I went to Heysham. OK no problems but if somebody had started moaning about the weight of the van the Island could kiss goodbye to any further tourist income from me, and I've spent a fair bit over the years.

In my opinion if the port authorities want to keep tabs on overloaded commercial vehicles this is par for the course, but take it easy on the tourists. Not that they will care about my opinion of course.

And you can kiss goodbye to off road riding on the IOM. This week Manx Radio had a talk in program to discuss the damage being done by off road motor bikes (bullcrap). The vast opinion given on the program is that these activities should be banned, and it looks like the Government may take action. Even World Champion David Knight has been told to stop and has now said he may leave the Island for good.