What are HGV's Used for?

Heavy goods vehicles are used through out the world and are designed to carry goods weighing up to 7.5 tonnes although this restriction varies from country to country. There are some countries that allow slightly more but many others that will only allow weights as low as 3.5 tonnes on their roads. The heaviest trucks are the 6 axel trucks that are only allowed to travel in certain countries that have very good roads, these trucks can weigh up to 50 tonnes.

Safety and Servicing of HGV's

With these vehicles carrying so much weight it is important for them to be fully functional and completely safe because of the obvious danger of if anything were to go wrong. This is especially in the case of the larger classes of HGV that are usually used for long haul transportation because they will be put under a lot of strain through out this distance. If the vehicle were to be involved in an accident then it would cause a lot of damage to any other vehicles surrounding it as well as any buildings or pedestrians close by.

There are specific garages for servicing HGV's and PSV's that are qualified to carry out the work on that particular class of vehicle. If wanting to get a HGV serviced then it is highly important that you check the company that are going to service it for you are fully licensed to, and that the person servicing the vehicle is qualified to do so. If not then they may not carry out the work properly and if they do carry out work that goes wrong then you would not be able to inform the VOSA who would be able intervene and make sure the work was completed properly and then investigate the companies standards.

It is always wise to make sure they are part of an association they are answerable to so that if something does go wrong with the work or the service isn't carried out properly the association can work with you to make it right.