There is currently no legislation which limits the height of vehicles that can travel on the roads in the UK. Drivers are not required to notify or seek approval to travel because of vehicle height.
Until the implementation of our Overheight Vehicle Strategy in 2008, records showed an increase in bridge strike incidents on Scotland's Trunk Road Network involving over-height vehicles. The consequences are always costly. They can be fatal for both the driver of the vehicle and the people on or under the bridge in passing rail or road traffic.
Transport Scotland's 'Strike It Out' campaign is aimed at raising awareness of bridge strikes on the Scottish road network, proactively stressing the safety risks associated with overheight vehicles and calling for drivers to plan their journeys ahead using a freephone helpline and web page. For further information see campaign leaflet and our Strike It Out blog.
The standard minimum clearance on every part of a public highway is 16'-6" (5.03m). All bridges with lower clearances have signs identifying the maximum safe vehicle height which can pass beneath.
High vehicles are those which:
Legislation states that all vehicles 9'-10" (3.0m) and above require a notice in the cab displaying the maximum height of the vehicle. It is an offence not to display this notice.
It is the responsibility of the driver of a vehicle to ensure that the height of their vehicle, including the load, can safely pass beneath all overbridges encountered on a route.
Find out more about bridges at risk from over-height vehicles (PDF, 146 kb), preventing bridge strikes (PDF, 1.07 MB), and responding to bridge strikes over highways (PDF, 2 MB).
Further information on bridge heights within Scotland can be found on the Freight Scotland website, and in the Notification to Hauliers document. Transport Scotland has also produced a series of Freight Best Practice guides and case studies that can help save fuel, reduce emissions and increase safety.
The High Load Grid is a collection of advisory routes for extremely high loads. They are aimed at assisting the haulage industry plan moves and ensuring routes are maintained to agreed capacities. The high load routes are either 18' or 20'.
The High Load Grid can be used as a guide to locate routes in a required area.
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