Weighty matters: Fleet operators facing 6-figure fines and potential action from the Traffic Commissioner for inadvertent overloads

Introduction

• In June 2023, the City of London Magistrates Court fined a major electrical wholesaler over £470,000 after a company curtain-sided lorry was 74% overweight with a 13-tonne load of electrical cable reels. This was despite the company investing a further £75,000 in additional weighing equipment after the incident.
• Last year in December 2024, Bristol Magistrates Court handed down a £50,000 fine to a company following a commercial vehicle overload in which the driver admitted to not performing required vehicle safety checks before departure.
• More recently in April 2025, a national plant hire company received an £800,000 fine after an HGV carrying plant equipment was found to be operating outside of a movement notification.

Whilst the facts and circumstances of these reported cases differ, the common factor remains the substantial size of the financial penalty imposed by the courts on each occasion.

More minor overloading offences concerning a commercial vehicle can usually be dealt with by the police or DVSA at the roadside by way of a fixed penalty notice, however where an overload is significant (more than 30%), a court summons will usually follow. Offences of this kind are usually “strict liability” and so prosecutions can follow even where a company had no knowledge of the overload and have systems and procedures in place to prevent this.

Such offences can be charged in several ways but will usually carry a penalty of a Level 5 fine. Significantly, Level 5 fines are unlimited and are calculated according to:

• the revenue of the company;
• whether a guilty plea was entered;
• the extent to which the vehicle was overloaded;
• an assessment of the level of culpability and harm.

There is an unfortunate absence of specific sentencing guidelines for such offences, and so for large turnover companies, the level of fine can be both substantial and hard to predict.

Furthermore, even after criminal court proceedings have concluded, the matter does not end there. A conviction for overloading a commercial vehicle will be considered a relevant conviction for the purposes of a fleet operator’s goods vehicle operator’s licence. It is therefore likely to be notifiable to the Traffic Commissioner. Traffic commissioners are entitled to take into account all reports concerning overloading when considering an operator’s fitness to hold a licence and have the power to power to hold a Public Inquiry to consider the circumstances of the overload and to determine whether to take regulatory action against the company’s operator’s licence. There are over 1000 Traffic Commissioner Public Inquiries each year.

Whilst the Traffic Commissioners have no power to impose financial penalties, they can instead suspend, curtail, or even revoke an company’s operator licence. For many operators, such a sanction can be significantly more harmful than any financial penalty imposed by the criminal courts.

What can a company do?

If an investigation or prosecution has already commenced:

In these circumstances it is imperative that a company takes specialist legal advice as soon as possible. For a licence holder, that expertise should extend to goods vehicle operator licensing and Traffic Commissioner proceeding.

In all other cases:

Whether you are a professional fleet operator, or a company operating a small number of vehicles ancillary to your main business, you should satisfy yourself that you have robust systems and procedures in place to prevent overloading. These systems will depend upon the nature of your operation, but might encompass such matters as:

• training of drivers, managers and staff
• effective policies and procedures
• loading plans
• safe systems of work
• risk assessments
• weighing equipment

Requirements for directors

Directors of companies that hold an operator’s licence should also ensure they have sufficient understanding of the transport regulatory regime to ensure effective fleet compliance processes are in operation. This position has been confirmed in statutory guidance released by the Senior Traffic Commissioner:

“Directors have collective responsibility for the company which they manage and it is therefore their responsibility to set the standards which employees are expected to meet and to ensure that those standards are met. Persons who control an entity which operates goods vehicles or public service vehicles must have sufficient knowledge to exercise proper oversight”

Find out more about directors operator licence responsibilities.

How our specialist transport regulatory team can help

Regulatory defence

We can represent your company if you are facing criminal investigation or proceedings for suspected overloading offences. We can also support with any communications with the Traffic Commissioner.

Compliance support

We can work with you to review your compliance systems to identify any areas of risk or exposure, both in the area of loading, and more generally.

Training and boardroom briefings

We can deliver targeted training to your management and fleet team on all areas of transport regulation operator licensing.

Incident support

We can help you to respond to a serious incident involving your fleet or wider operations.