Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many vehicles have been stopped for reasons which include overloading in each region in England in the last 12 months; how many such vehicles have been tested for gross weight; and how many drivers have been arrested for being found to have overloaded their vehicle.

As part of its roadside enforcement checks the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has stopped 8,335 vehicles for reasons including overloading in England in the last 12 months. The DVSA does not hold data on the number of vehicles stopped for this reason in each region in England. Of the 8,335 stopped, the DVSA has issued 3,806 prohibitions to drivers where the vehicle has been deemed to be overloaded.

It is possible that a vehicle could have had multiple types of overloading offences so the data relates to vehicles weighed and vehicles that have one or more of these types of offences. Having a vehicle that is overloaded is not an arrestable offence and the DVSA does not have the power to arrest.