The DVSA are responsible for caravans, in fact any road going vehicle. They do set up inspection points around the country and they will pull some caravanners in and check the outfits.
Just becasue in the UK caravans do not have to be separately registered (unlike good vehicle trailers) does not prevent the user from being checked and even prosecuted if they find anything wrong.
There can be quite a lot of money at stake in the haulage industry so there may be financial reasons why some commercial operators might try to overload , or conveniently forget to service their vehicles, which is why the DVSA roadside checks do come down hard on illegal HGV's.
Overloading (i.e excess weight) should never be considered to be a normal or acceptable practice. In particular in emergency situations the vehicles braking system will be stressed beyond their normal limits, possibly causing failure but certainly causing more rapid wear and deterioration of performance. But other aspects of the vehicle may also be damaged or prevented from working effectively if excess weight is carried, so it pays to observe sensible and legal loading practices.
Any vehicle that cant stop effectively is of course a real danger, but simply becasue HGV's are considerably heavier than domestic cars, they can cause far more carnage.
However there have been some reports where when a caravan has been pulled over and something is not quite right, the inspectors and police will not let it proceed until the problem is corrected, and if its only a little out of order, they are often inclined to offer advice and country
The DVSA are responsible for caravans, in fact any road going vehicle. They do set up inspection points around the country and they will pull some caravanners in and check the outfits.
Just becasue in the UK caravans do not have to be separately registered (unlike good vehicle trailers) does not prevent the user from being checked and even prosecuted if they find anything wrong.
There can be quite a lot of money at stake in the haulage industry so there may be financial reasons why some commercial operators might try to overload , or conveniently forget to service their vehicles, which is why the DVSA roadside checks do come down hard on illegal HGV's.
Overloading (i.e excess weight) should never be considered to be a normal or acceptable practice. In particular in emergency situations the vehicles braking system will be stressed beyond their normal limits, possibly causing failure but certainly causing more rapid wear and deterioration of performance. But other aspects of the vehicle may also be damaged or prevented from working effectively if excess weight is carried, so it pays to observe sensible and legal loading practices.
Any vehicle that cant stop effectively is of course a real danger, but simply becasue HGV's are considerably heavier than domestic cars, they can cause far more carnage.
However there have been some reports where when a caravan has been pulled over and something is not quite right, the inspectors and police will not let it proceed until the problem is corrected, and if its only a little out of order, they are often inclined to offer advice and allow the user put it right, rather than prosecuting.