Parking your commercial van at home

If you have a commercial van for work, there’s a chance that you’ll be parking it at home.

There’s nothing wrong with that – many van drivers park their vans outside their homes. However, there are actually some laws relating to parking your van at home.

Parking a commercial van

Some companies provide their employees with a commercial van in order to do their job. If you’re in the situation, make sure they allow their vans to be parked off-site overnight. This is definitely something to check in advance – you don’t want to fall foul of company policies!

Should you regularly keep your commercial van at home, your insurer may need to be informed. You should know the ins-and-outs of your policy, and whether or not you’re covered. Be aware of parking restrictions, active prohibition times, permit parking requirements and reserved areas.

Your commercial van must be parked in an authorised space or a designated lay-by and never within 10 metres of a junction. Always park with the nearside close to and parallel with the kerb.
Here’s a surprising fact: if your commercial van has an unladen (also called kerb) weight of more than 2500kg and is parked on the street between sunrise and sunset, it must be left with the lights on. This also applies to passenger vehicles with over nine seats. If your van has a kerb weight of less than 2-and-a-half tonnes then you can leave your lights off provided the road it is parked on has a maximum speed limit of 30mph.

You may need planning permission. Don’t laugh – we’re serious. Many homeowners seriously dislike commercial vans being parked on private properties. Local council do in fact receive complaints in regard to the parking of vans with the issue being that ‘the enjoyment of the property is affected’. Because of this, some council will consider the parking of vans on residential property a material change of use – which means applying for permission.

Here’s what a local council will consider when such a dispute arises:

• The size, design and number of commercial vans being kept at a given property
• Their position and proximity to adjoining/adjacent properties
• The effect on the appearance of the surrounding area
• The times that the vehicle arrives and departs from the property

If you need to park your commercial van at home, it may be worth considering your requirements to find a van that is most suitable. The Peugeot Expert is a great medium van with a small profile, perfect for parking in spaces more suited to cars.

The Peugeot Expert is an excellent commercial van

It’s about the same size as a people carrier, standing at only 1980mm tall. Load space and carrying capacity does not really suffer as a result; the Expert can carry almost a tonne (988kg) of cargo in a load space of 5 cubic metres. It can also tow up to 1672kg, meaning that while the Expert is a smaller medium van it retains the abilities of a larger van.

Oh, and it weighs only 1845kg – so you won’t have to leave the lights on!

Interested in a Peugeot Expert? Call us on 0800 169 6995 or enquire online and we’ll find the best deal for you!