Guide · Updated June 2026
HGV Route Planner UK — Low Bridges, Weight Limits & LEZ in 2026
A practical guide for UK HGV drivers and fleet managers: how to plan a route that respects your vehicle's height, width, weight, and the growing list of UK low-emission zones — without falling back on a car satnav.
Why UK HGV routing is its own problem
The UK has more than 1,800 sub-4.4 m bridges, hundreds of weight-restricted lanes, narrow town centres built before HGVs existed, and a fast-growing patchwork of clean-air, low-emission and ultra-low-emission zones. Google Maps and Apple Maps don't ask for your height or weight, so they'll route you anywhere a car could go. A real HGV route planner keeps a full vehicle profile in the routing engine and rejects illegal roads outright.
What a UK HGV route planner has to handle
- Low bridges — under 4.4 m clearance, the leading cause of UK bridge strikes.
- Weight limits — environmental and structural, including the 7.5 t and 18 t bands.
- Width and length limits — common on rural B-roads and town centres.
- LEZ / ULEZ / Clean Air Zones — London, Birmingham, Bristol, Sheffield, Bradford, Tyneside, Portsmouth, Bath.
- Lorry bans — time-restricted bans in Westminster, Wandsworth, parts of Greater Manchester.
- Hazmat restrictions — tunnels (Dartford, Mersey, Tyne) and certain town centres.
- Driver hours (HOS) — surfacing legal break and rest stops on the route.
Free vs Pro — what an independent driver actually needs
If you're an owner-driver running a single rigid or small artic, the free tier of a modern HGV planner is usually enough: enter your vehicle profile once, plan a route, see the bridge and weight warnings, share the link with the office. You don't need fleet features.
A Pro tier becomes worth it when you start hitting any of these: multi-stop routing, dispatcher view, live driver tracking, fleet telematics integration, driver compliance reports, or branded customer ETAs. For most independents, Free covers it. For a 10-vehicle fleet, Pro pays for itself the first time it stops a bridge strike.
How HAULPATH plans a UK HGV route
- Build a vehicle profile once — height, width, length, gross weight, axle load, hazmat class.
- Enter origin and destination; HAULPATH filters the route against UK low-bridge and weight-limit data.
- The map flags every restriction the profile would breach — you see why a road was rejected, not just that it was.
- LEZ / ULEZ / CAZ overlays show whether your vehicle is compliant or charged.
- Live driver hazard reports surface closures and flooding from other operators in the area.
- Switch to blue-light mode if you run dual-use vehicles — a high-contrast emergency display with your vehicle limits still enforced (route calculation matches standard HGV mode).
Five UK HGV routing mistakes to stop making
- Trusting Google Maps "because the postcode worked last time" — the road's restriction may have changed.
- Using only the cab's built-in satnav — most aren't HGV-aware unless explicitly specified.
- Setting the vehicle profile once and never updating it — trailer swaps change everything.
- Ignoring LEZ alerts — daily charges add up faster than a Pro subscription.
- Skipping the planned-stop list — HOS breach fines start at £100 and escalate fast.
Try it on a real UK route
HAULPATH is free for independent drivers — build a profile, plan a UK route in seconds, and see exactly which restrictions the engine rejected on your behalf.