We recently added a Ford Connect Van to our company car fleet. It is based on the Ford Focus and shares many parts, so not a very big van. Its curb weight is just over 2 Tonnes. Compare this to a Range Rover which has a curb weight of 2.4 Tonnes. But if you drive your 2 tonne+ vans through the Rotherhithe Tunnel in Southwark, London SE16 then expect to receive a fine of £130 (reduced to £65 if paid in 14 days). We used the tunnel many times before we received our 1st fine, and by then we had accrued 8 fines totaling £1,040 reduced to £520. We appealed to deaf ears and have paid in full, we have learned our lesson the hard way.

TFL has put these restrictions in because they say that the tunnel was not built or designed to take heavy goods vehicles. This is fair enough, I'm not a structural engineer and will accept that TFL's engineers have made these recommendations based on their findings and I assume extensive research.

What I do have an issue with is the signage that TFL has used to give orders to heavy goods drivers regarding the maximum weight that can be used in the tunnel.

From my research, I have discovered that the Rotherhithe Tunnel is the only road in the UK that has a weight limit for heavy goods vehicles of 2 tonnes+ The Highway Code sign used for restricting heavy goods vehicles is a red circle with a picture of a black truck/lorry in the middle and the maximum weight is in white text on the truck - this is in metric tonnes.

And it is this sign that TFL has used to restrict all goods vehicles. This sign is very misleading as the visual look of the goods vehicle would immediately lead the driver to believe that the vehicle that was restricted was just trucks/lorries and not vans over 2 tonnes! 

As a car driver how many of you know the curb weight of your vehicle? This question may also be asked of many if not all van drivers? In your daily work using a van, how often have you been asked or expected to know the weight of your vehicle?

I'm not asking TFL to remove the restrictions, what I want them to do is to add a new sign with the picture of a van, this visual would be much clearer and easily understood by van drivers, who are generally very busy people who are expected to look at a sign and make split-second decisions based on the visual instructions shown on a road sign. So TFL if this is not a revenue-making scheme, then add new signage and make the tunnel safe for all.

If you are a van driver or have access to a van then I implore you to sign this petition, even if you never use the Rotherhithe Tunnel, support your fellow van driver, because you never know when this might come to a road near you.