Weight Angel has launched its commercial vehicle overload and load shift protection system in the UK.

The Weight Angel system is designed to combat the rising trend in illegal vehicle overloading in the UK and can be used by commercial vehicles between 1 and 7.5 tonnes.

The system uses a complex series of load dependent sensors to measure the resistance of the payload being placed into the back of a commercial vehicle. The sensors are themselves housed in a matrix formation within an intelligent sandwich resin lined floor that replaces the standard floor in the vehicle.

The information from the sensors is then relayed wirelessly via Bluetooth to a portable visual display unit housed in the cab or on the driver’s belt.

Depending on the version of the product chosen, the visual display unit can either give a traffic light reading to warn of an overload or an exact reading in kilogrammes.

With a margin of error of only 0.5% compared to the 5-6% associated with external mechanical systems, Weight Angel requires no further recalibration after installation, which itself only takes around one hour and requires no ramps.

David Carruthers, founder and CEO of Weight Angel said: “In today’s world people regularly overload a vehicle without realising the potential consequences of their actions.

“Overloading a vehicle is not only illegal, which can render your insurance void in the case of an accident, but it also makes controlling a vehicle much more difficult, significantly increases fuel consumption, which is worse for the both the operator and the environment, and it causes excessive wear and tear to our roads, all at the expense of the taxpayer.”