What is an HGV? HGV, LGV and the 3.5 and 7.5 tonne lines in British law

HGV stands for heavy goods vehicle, as in GOV.UK’s guide “Become a qualified heavy goods vehicle (HGV) or bus driver”, and LGV, on DVSA’s pages, for large goods vehicle. Section 121 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 defines a large goods vehicle, for Part IV of the Act, as a motor vehicle, other than a medium-sized goods vehicle, “constructed or adapted to carry or to haul goods and the permissible maximum weight of which exceeds 7.5 tonnes”; below that line, section 108 defines, for Part III, a medium-sized goods vehicle, one whose permissible maximum weight “exceeds 3.5 but not 7.5 tonnes”. Other texts draw other lines: 3.5 tonnes between heavy and light goods vehicles in the Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995, and 12,000 kilograms for the HGV levy. In the vehicle licensing statistics of the Department for Transport (DfT), LGV means light goods vehicle.

Status as of 8 October 2026. All texts were read that day: the revised Acts on legislation.gov.uk, which marks the sections used as up to date with changes known to be in force on or before 5 or 8 October 2026 or records no known outstanding effects for them; the original section 120 of the 1988 Act; and the GOV.UK pages listed. legislation.gov.uk warns that “Revised legislation carried on this site may not be fully up to date”. This page covers Great Britain.

Where each text draws the line

Each text uses its own measure: permissible maximum weight, maximum laden weight, revenue weight, maximum authorised mass, gross weight or gross vehicle weight. General weight terms are explained in truck weights.

The Road Traffic Act: medium-sized and large

Section 121 defines its terms “In this Part of this Act”, Part IV, entitled “Licensing of drivers of large goods vehicles and passenger-carrying vehicles” in the legislation.gov.uk notes, and gives permissible maximum weight “the same meaning as in Part III of this Act”. Section 108, in Part III, sets that meaning case by case. For a motor vehicle that is neither an articulated goods vehicle nor drawing a trailer, it is “the relevant maximum weight of the vehicle”; for an articulated goods vehicle drawing only a semi-trailer, “the relevant maximum train weight of the articulated goods vehicle combination”.

DVSA writes LGV for large goods vehicle: its page for instructors speaks of “a large goods vehicle (LGV) driving licence”, and its test statistics are headed “large goods vehicles (LGV)”. GOV.UK’s page on driving licence categories lists C1 and C1E under “Medium-sized vehicles” and C and CE under “Large vehicles”, and its guide to qualifying as an HGV or bus driver points to “the licence categories for large vehicles - which include heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) - and buses”. Categories, ages and tests are covered in HGV licences in Great Britain.

Before 1991. As originally enacted, section 120 defined, for Part IV of the Act as it then stood, a heavy goods vehicle as “an articulated goods vehicle” or a large goods vehicle whose permissible maximum weight exceeded 7.5 tonnes. legislation.gov.uk records that Part IV, then entitled “Licensing of drivers of heavy goods vehicles”, was repealed from 1 April 1991 by the Road Traffic (Driver Licensing and Information Systems) Act 1989, which inserted a new Part IV.

Operator licensing: heavy and light

The Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995 defines a heavy goods vehicle as “a goods vehicle, or a vehicle combination including a goods vehicle, that has a maximum laden weight exceeding 3.5 tonnes”, and a light goods vehicle in the same words with “not exceeding 3.5 tonnes” (section 58(1)). legislation.gov.uk records these definitions as inserted on 17 March 2022 by S.I. 2022/293. Who needs which licence is covered in goods vehicle operator licences in Great Britain.

The levy and the statistics

Section 2(1) of the HGV Road User Levy Act 2013 defines a heavy goods vehicle as a mechanically propelled vehicle “with a revenue weight of 12,000 kilograms or more”, or a heavy motor car as defined in section 185 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, charged to vehicle excise duty at the rate for vehicles used for exceptional loads or for goods vehicles, or that would be so charged but for an exemption granted on the basis that it is only temporarily in the United Kingdom. Bands and rates are in the HGV levy in the UK.

The DfT’s vehicle licensing statistics define light goods vehicles (LGVs) as vehicles “constructed for transporting goods” with “a gross weight of 3.5 tonnes or less, or 4.25 tonnes or less if zero emission”, and heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) as those above, adding: “This includes vehicles that are not used for freight.” The DfT’s road traffic estimates for 2025 count “Lorries (Heavy Goods Vehicles - HGVs)” as “all goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes gross vehicle weight” and the goods vehicles below as vans, “Light Commercial Vehicles - LCVs”.

The European and UN categories for goods vehicles, N1 to N3, are set out in vehicle categories M, N and O.