The UK’s National Police Chief Council has updated its guidance of mobile crane and abnormal load travel embargo recommendations. It appears to be a step in the right direction towards a more common sense and joined up approach.
The updated guidance document is available in full as the NPCC Abnormal Load Guidance Document 2025 which you can download from the CPA website on www.cpa.uk.net/legal-insurance-plant-theft/legal/transport.
Looking through the 13 page document the key clause appears to be:
Clause 4.4. which states: “Where, due to specific local geographical issues the Chief Officer of Police determines that embargoes on Ab loads should be in place, the following principle is suggested:
4.4.1. Category 1 STGO vehicles, Cat A mobile cranes and those moving wide or long loads under C&U Regulations should not be subject to any embargo save for congested urban roads, or where the width of the vehicle and load cannot reasonably remain within the width of the lane in which the vehicle is travelling unless there are specific local issues to be taken into consideration.
The CPA said: “The document has been achieved with other Trade Associations and key stakeholders within the Abnormal Loads Group”
We have asked the association’s legal department for its take on the new guidance, which appears to push back from the most draconian embargoes that some police forces adopted.
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