Speed limits for motorhomes

A motorhome not over 3.05 tonnes unladen uses car limits: 60 mph on a single carriageway and 70 mph on a dual carriageway or motorway. Above 3.05 tonnes unladen, the figures are 50 mph, 60 mph and 70 mph. Built-up roads stay at 30 mph, or 20 mph in Wales, unless signed otherwise. Those rows are in Highway Code rule 124 and on GOV.UK speed limits, checked in 2026.

The boundary is unladen weight, not maximum authorised mass. The familiar 3.5 tonne figure is a licence and MAM number. A coachbuilt motorhome plated at 3,500 kg MAM is usually well over 3.05 tonnes unladen, but this page does not invent an unladen figure from a MAM. Read the plate or the handbook for unladen weight, then pick the row. GOV.UK speeding penalties start at £100 and 3 points. A court can fine up to £1,000 off a motorway, or £2,500 on a motorway. 65 mph on a dual carriageway is 5 mph over for a heavy motorhome and legal for a light one under 3.05 tonnes unladen. That is why the unladen figure has to come off the plate, not from a brochure MAM. Hire motorhomes use the same table. A hire agreement can set a lower in-contract cap, which is not a different national limit.

Schedule 6 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act uses unladen weight for this class. GOV.UK and rule 124 print 3.05 tonnes. 3.5 tonnes is the category B MAM ceiling and the van goods threshold people remember. Mixing them is how a heavy motorhome is driven at 70 mph on a dual carriageway when the legal figure is 60 mph.

GOV.UK also says motorhomes or motor caravans are classed as goods vehicles if they carry goods for exhibition and sale, are used as a workshop, or are used for storage. A converted van used as a rolling workshop is not on the motorhome row. It is on the van row.

Towing one trailer applies the towing cap: 50 mph single, 60 mph dual and motorway. The calculator on the hub does that once you tick towing. The 3.05 tonne boundary is then secondary to the trailer. The right-hand lane of a three-lane motorway is also prohibited.

A 7.5 tonne MAM motorhome driven on a category C1 or C licence is still a motorhome for this speed table if it is used as a motor caravan, unless GOV.UK's goods-use exceptions apply. Licence class and speed class are different questions.

The same GOV.UK tariff: £100 and 3 points as a minimum, up to £1,000 in court, or £2,500 on a motorway. 65 mph on a dual carriageway is 5 mph over for a heavy motorhome and legal for a light one. That is why the unladen figure matters. New drivers and totting-up clocks still run.

Wales uses 20 mph on restricted roads. The 3.05 tonne boundary and the 50, 60, 70 split do not change at the Welsh or Scottish border. Northern Ireland publishes its own table. Use nidirect for NI wording. A GB-plated motorhome on a GB road uses these rows.

That 3.5 tonnes MAM means car limits. It does not, if unladen weight is over 3.05 tonnes. That a heavy motorhome is an HGV for speed. Over 3.05 tonnes unladen it is 50, 60, 70, not the HGV 60 mph motorway cap, unless it is also a goods vehicle under GOV.UK's exhibition, workshop or storage tests. That towing a scooter trailer keeps 70 mph on a motorway. It does not.

Highway Code rule 124 and GOV.UK speed limits print 3.05 tonnes unladen as the motorhome split. Schedule 6 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 is the statute. GOV.UK also says a motorhome is classed as a goods vehicle if it carries goods for exhibition and sale, is used as a workshop, or is used for storage. A converted van used as a rolling workshop belongs on the van row, not this one. Towing applies the 50 and 60 mph caps on top. The motorway figure for a heavy motorhome that is not towing remains 70 mph, which is why people mix it up with the 60 mph dual-carriageway figure. Read unladen weight from the plate or the handbook. Do not invent an unladen figure from a 7.5 tonne MAM.