UK speed limits by vehicle and road

The sign on the road is only one part of the answer. Vehicle class, towing, weight and the UK nation can all set a lower maximum. GOV.UK speed limits and Highway Code rule 124, checked in 2026, publish the table. The law is the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, Schedule 6, as amended, including the Welsh 20 mph restricted-road order. A car on a dual carriageway is 70 mph. A van on the same road is usually 60 mph. A car towing is 60 mph. A heavy goods vehicle in Scotland can be 50 mph.

Use the calculator first. It applies the same rows as the topic pages underneath this hub. A lower posted limit always wins. Rule 125 says the speed limit is the absolute maximum and does not mean it is safe to drive at that speed in all conditions.

GOV.UK says the minimum penalty is a £100 fine and 3 penalty points. A Notice of Intended Prosecution and a section 172 notice should be sent within 14 days of a camera catch, and the section 172 must be returned within 28 days. A court can fine up to £1,000, or £2,500 on a motorway, and can disqualify. New drivers lose the licence at 6 or more points within 2 years of passing. A speed awareness course may be offered. There is no right to one.

Restricted roads in Wales default to 20 mph from 17 September 2023, under the Restricted Roads (20 mph Speed Limit) (Wales) Order 2022. Those roads are usually built-up streets with street lights no more than 200 yards apart. Repeater 20 mph signs are generally not used where that default applies. A signed 30 mph exception is legal where the highway authority has made a traffic regulation order. Dual carriageways, motorways and other signed limits stay as they are. The Wales 20 mph page is the place for how to ask for a review.

England, Scotland and Northern Ireland still use 30 mph as the usual built-up default, with 20 mph where it is signed or zoned. An English street-light habit in a Welsh town is how a 30 mph cruise becomes a 10 mph excess. The calculator's nation choice switches that built-up default.

Most vans are goods vehicles for speed limits: 50 mph on a single carriageway and 60 mph on a dual carriageway, and 70 mph on a motorway when not towing and not over 7.5 tonnes. A qualifying car derived van, maximum laden weight no greater than 2 tonnes, and a dual purpose vehicle not over 2.04 tonnes unladen, use car limits instead. A motorhome uses 3.05 tonnes unladen as its boundary, which is not the 3.5 tonne MAM figure people remember. Goods vehicles over 7.5 tonnes drop further, and Scotland and Northern Ireland use 40 mph on a single carriageway and 50 mph on a dual carriageway for that heavy class.

Towing one trailer with a car, car derived van or motor caravan is 50 mph on a single carriageway and 60 mph on a dual carriageway or motorway, and the right-hand lane of a three-lane motorway is prohibited. The topic pages under this hub take each class in turn. Use the calculator if you have the weights, then read the page for the class you actually drive.

If a camera caught the vehicle, GOV.UK says a Notice of Intended Prosecution and a section 172 notice should arrive within 14 days. You must return the section 172 within 28 days naming the driver. Ignoring it can mean court. You can plead not guilty to a fixed penalty and go to court, where the fine can be higher. This site's speeding pages cover the Sentencing Council bands and the NPCC enforcement table. This hub is the place to check whether the limit you were measured against was the right class.

A van driver who was compared with a 70 mph dual-carriageway car limit, when the van row is 60 mph, still has an excess if they were at 68 mph. The class is the first question. The band is the second. New drivers should treat 3 points as halfway to a revoked licence.

Treating a national speed limit sign as 70 mph on a single carriageway. Treating two lanes each way as a dual carriageway when there is no central reservation. Using car limits in a panel van. Using 3.5 tonnes MAM as the motorhome speed test. Towing at 70 mph on a motorway. Using English 30 mph street-light habits in Wales. Assuming a limiter setting such as 56 mph is the legal maximum for a lorry, when the Schedule 6 motorway figure above 7.5 tonnes is 60 mph.

Hire cars, company cars and foreign vehicles on GB roads use the GB table for what they actually are. A hire agreement can set a lower in-contract cap. That is not a different national limit. Confirm the class, the nation and the road type before you copy a habit from the car you drive at weekends.

The topic pages under this hub take each class in turn: cars, vans, towing, motorhomes, heavy goods vehicles, and the Welsh 20 mph default. The calculator at the top of this page is the same table. A lower posted limit always applies. If you have been sent a notice, check the class first, then read the speeding pages for the penalty bands.

Highway Code rule 124 is the table drivers actually read. The Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, Schedule 6, is the statute behind it, as amended for England and Wales variable limits and for the Welsh 20 mph restricted-road order. GOV.UK speed limits restates the same rows in plainer words. nidirect publishes the Northern Ireland Highway Code text for rules 103 to 158. The calculator on this page does not invent a fifth table. It applies those published rows to the vehicle, nation, road and towing status you enter.

Speeding penalties are a different document. GOV.UK speeding penalties names the £100 and 3 point minimum, the 14 day Notice of Intended Prosecution, the 28 day section 172 reply, the court maxima of £1,000 and £2,500 on a motorway, and the 6 point new-driver revocation. The Sentencing Council guideline and the NPCC enforcement table sit on the speeding pages. Use this hub to find the limit, then those pages to find the band.

Built-up defaults are 30 mph in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and 20 mph on restricted roads in Wales. A dual carriageway is defined by a central reservation, not by the number of lanes. A national speed limit sign means the national maximum for that vehicle on that road. The topic pages spell out each exception, including car derived vans, the 3.05 tonne motorhome unladen boundary, and the 7.5 tonne goods-vehicle split.