In article , Gary Cavie
writes

Many years ago (at least 12!) my dad hired a 7.5tonner from the local
hire place, for me to go to Ipswich docks and pick up a load of timber
for him (he runs a joinery company). I duly went up to their yard, at a
local farm, and found the truck, which was a very nice Mercedes, only a
year or two old. I filled in the tacho and trundled the 30 miles or so up
to Ipswich, marvelling at the exhaust brake and other gadgets, and got
there just as the dockers were starting their lunch. With nothing else to
do for an hour, I sat in the cab and started reading through the booklets
that were in the truck. I flipped through the specifications for the
truck, and saw that the axles were rated something along the lines of 8t
on the front, and 15t on the rear. My first thought was 'That's high for
a 7.5tonner', closely followed by 'Oh s**t!'

Never have I driven so smoothly and carefully as I did on the trip
back...

It was probably right, 7.5tonne vehicles are usually rated for much
higher loads than that, just you can't drive them loaded over 7.5 tonne
gross weight without HGV licence. (The Iveco vehicles are really 12
tonne).
--
Tim Mitchell