Height restrictions - how accurate

NotAGolf

NotAGolf

NotAGolf

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Now I realise this title sounds like the start of a thread by someone who is about to take the roof off his car, but bear with me…

When a bridge, or barrier, or other height restriction has a height shown on it (e.g. max height 2.0m), how precise is that measurement? Do they afford X amount of leeway?

I’ll be taking the ferry over to France a couple of times this year and I’m going to have a bike on the roof of my car. When booking tickets, the height options are: between ‘1.84m and 2.6m’, and ‘up to 3.0m’. So I go out and measure up, and guess what height it comes in at? 2.60 exactly :mad:

Now I can easily drop the saddle by a few cm, and rotate the handle bars to save a few cm, but it’s still going to be within a few cm of the limit. Would you risk it? It’s only £40-50 difference over the two trips, so it’s not much, but I’d rather have that money in my pocket.
 
NotAGolf said:
Now I realise this title sounds like the start of a thread by someone who is about to take the roof off his car, but bear with me…

When a bridge, or barrier, or other height restriction has a height shown on it (e.g. max height 2.0m), how precise is that measurement? Do they afford X amount of leeway?

I’ll be taking the ferry over to France a couple of times this year and I’m going to have a bike on the roof of my car. When booking tickets, the height options are: between ‘1.84m and 2.6m’, and ‘up to 3.0m’. So I go out and measure up, and guess what height it comes in at? 2.60 exactly :mad:

Now I can easily drop the saddle by a few cm, and rotate the handle bars to save a few cm, but it’s still going to be within a few cm of the limit. Would you risk it? It’s only £40-50 difference over the two trips, so it’s not much, but I’d rather have that money in my pocket.
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When I read the title, I thought you’d be complaining that you wasn’t allowed on the Ghost Train.
 
NotAGolf said:
Now I realise this title sounds like the start of a thread by someone who is about to take the roof off his car, but bear with me…

When a bridge, or barrier, or other height restriction has a height shown on it (e.g. max height 2.0m), how precise is that measurement? Do they afford X amount of leeway?

I’ll be taking the ferry over to France a couple of times this year and I’m going to have a bike on the roof of my car. When booking tickets, the height options are: between ‘1.84m and 2.6m’, and ‘up to 3.0m’. So I go out and measure up, and guess what height it comes in at? 2.60 exactly :mad:

Now I can easily drop the saddle by a few cm, and rotate the handle bars to save a few cm, but it’s still going to be within a few cm of the limit. Would you risk it? It’s only £40-50 difference over the two trips, so it’s not much, but I’d rather have that money in my pocket.
Click to expand...

On a road bridge it is the lowest part of the bridgedeck above the carriageway (and there will be a bit of wiggle room for surfacing the road etc).

The ferry presumably has different deck heights and wants to charge Vans and Coaches etc. more than the average car. So if you are higher you take up more valuable space and pay more. I expect that again there will be wiggle room to avoid damaging the deckhead as you drive through.
 
robfosters said:
When I read the title, I thought you’d be complaining that you wasn’t allowed on the Ghost Train.
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I expected a trucker who'd smashed his cab/trailer into a rural bridge somewhere and was wanting some insurance/legal advice!!

"Unfortunately, not every ferry operator shares the maximum dimensions and weights accepted. The maximum also varies depending on which route you take"
https://www.freightlink.co.uk/knowledge/articles/abnormal-loads-ferries-facts
Presumably something similar is true of private vehicles, but also presumably they'd have their own buffer over the exact 2.6m allowance. Certainly losing a few cm off that height will help, though.
 
I assume height restrictions have to be fairly accurate with a bit of wiggle room, otherwise its pretty pointless. Can you not just remove your bike to enter the ferry and stick back on the roof once you leave?
 
Alternatively, let some air out of your tyres and inflate when you get off the ferry.
More effort but makes you look clevererer.
 
robfosters said:
When I read the title, I thought you’d be complaining that you wasn’t allowed on the Ghost Train.
Click to expand...
Got the Cuban heels for that ;)

weathmatth said:
I assume height restrictions have to be fairly accurate with a bit of wiggle room, otherwise its pretty pointless. Can you not just remove your bike to enter the ferry and stick back on the roof once you leave?
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No I don't think so. Passengers enter the ferry via a different route to vehicles and I wouldn't have a ticket as a foot passenger, and I don't think they'd want me just wandering around while they try and load the vehicles.

Bickaxe said:
Alternatively, let some air out of your tyres and inflate when you get off the ferry.
More effort but makes you look clevererer.
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It's a road bike, so that would only save ~1cm.

PermaChanged said:
:confused:Have you not solved your own issue here?:confused:
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Possibly, but there's still two potential problems here: 1) Their height restriction is actually lower than stated (highly unlikely I imagine as otherwise they would have loads of people kicking off due to damage caused), or 2) My measurements could be 2-3cm out, so I could be closer to the limit than I think. This is far more likely as it's quite tricky to measure without a 2.6m high barrier to test with.
 
Bridge height markers are the absolute minimum height clearance, they are often a bit out, be especially careful of a visibly recently resurfaced road, sometimes they just whack another layer on top of the existing road surface, and don’t get the signs altered.

Had this a few years back, 13’ 3” signed bridge, 13’ 3” trailer I hit the bridge but caused little damage thankfully, the police attended and said they’d had a few strikes on that bridge since the road was resurfaced!

They have recently resurfaced the A51 near Hixon, Staffordshire, resigned the bridge to 15’3” from 15’4” but you still can get a 15’4” trailer under it....
 
Put the bike inside the back of the car and if you have passengers that can't sit around the bike, lay them of their backs on the roof. ;)
 
Why do you need a bicycle anyway? You already have a car!!
Besides, cyclists are the enemy.....!!

I know you probably have one of those upright racks, but can you not lay the bike down on its side and lash it secure enough just for the ferry crossing part? You'd easily reduce the height by a couple of feet that way...
 
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