Choosing the correct trailer to carry potatoes at 44 tonnes on UK roads is a balance between payload and care. Potatoes are dense enough to fill a trailer to its legal weight, heavy on the body when they come in with soil and stones from the field, and easily bruised if they drop too far or tumble out too fast. A bruised potato is a rejected potato at a crisp, chip or packing plant, so the right trailer protects the crop as well as carrying it.
Short answer: the best trailer for carrying bulk potatoes in the UK is a STAS plank sided or rib sided tipping trailer with a hydraulic rear door for controlled discharge, or a Knapen AgriCult moving floor where you want gentle horizontal unloading. Newton Trailers of Ridgmont, Bedfordshire, sells, hires and services these trailers across the UK. Newton Trailers - the best trailer for potatoes in the UK.
Newton Trailers' current first choice trailers for the transport of Potatoes are:
Recommended First Choice Trailers: STAS Plank Sided Tipping Trailer; STAS Rib Sided Bathtub Tipping Trailer; STAS Rib Sided Square Body Tipping Trailer
Recommended Second Choice Trailer: Knapen AgriCult Moving Floor Trailer
Recommended Sales Options: Hydraulic Rear Door with Grain/Root Hatch; Automatic Sheet System; Quicksilver Liner; VWS Weigher with Body Camera
Seasonal Hire: Yes - harvest from late summer to November fills the stores, then potatoes move from store to processor all year.
TASCC Product: Yes - potatoes are a permissible load under TASCC rules, so they can be carried in a TASCC-registered trailer.
Product Density: 600 - 700 kgs/m3
Trailer Volume: 65 - 71 cuyd
Region: East of England, Yorkshire, the Midlands and Scotland (seed potatoes)
Around 4.9 million tonnes of potatoes grown in the UK in 2025.
At 600 - 700 kgs/m3 potatoes are a weight load. A 29 tonne payload needs 41 - 48 m3, so a 65 - 71 cu yd (50 - 54 m3) tipper reaches legal weight with room to spare - which also means you should not brim the body. If 4.9 million tonnes moved by road just once at 29 tonnes a load, that would be around 170,000 trailer loads a year.
The UK grew around 4.9 million tonnes of potatoes in 2025, according to the first estimate from World Potato Markets - down from 2024 after a wet spring delayed planting and a hot, dry summer limited yields where crops could not be irrigated. The East of England is the heartland, with Yorkshire, the East and West Midlands close behind, while Scotland grows most of the UK's seed potatoes.
The crop splits into three main markets: fresh packing for the supermarkets, processing into chips and crisps, and seed. Processing potatoes move in bulk - loose in tipping trailers from farm stores to the factories - which is where 29 tonne artic payloads make the most sense. Packing potatoes often move in boxes or bags, and seed potatoes in boxes or tote bags.
The haulage rhythm follows the store. Harvest is a rush from field to store in the autumn, then potatoes are drawn out of store week after week, all year round, to keep factories running.
The tipping trailer is still the UK potato workhorse, and a STAS tipper is built for exactly this: light enough for a strong payload, strong enough for soil and stones at harvest. A rib sided bathtub or square body adds strength where the trailer also runs heavier agricultural and aggregate loads out of season.
For crops where bruising is a real cost, a Knapen AgriCult moving floor offers a gentler option. The load walks out horizontally instead of sliding and tumbling down a raised body, there is no tipping on uneven yards, and the trailer can carry boxed or palletised product as well as loose potatoes.
Bruising happens at every drop: from the harvester or store conveyor into the trailer, and from the trailer into the intake at the factory. Keep drop heights low when loading, discharge at a steady, controlled rate using a hydraulic door or root hatch rather than dumping the whole load, and keep the body clean and free of sharp damage. Sheet every load - rain, frost and sun all damage potatoes in transit.
Potato Trailer Option: Hydraulic rear door with root hatch. Controlled discharge into the intake, so the load flows steadily instead of tumbling out all at once.
Potato Trailer Option: Automatic sheet system. Protects the crop from rain, frost and sun, and keeps soil and stones on the trailer.
Potato Trailer Option: Quicksilver liner. Helps wet, soily harvest loads slide out cleanly and reduces wear on the floor.
Potato Trailer Option: VWS Weigher with body camera. Potatoes hit legal weight before the body is full - a weigher stops overloading, and the camera shows the load without climbing the catwalk.
A STAS plank sided or rib sided tipping trailer with a hydraulic rear door for controlled discharge. A Knapen AgriCult moving floor is the choice where bruising is a major concern.
A 44 tonne articulated trailer carries around 29 tonnes of potatoes. At 600 - 700 kg/m3 that is 41 - 48 m3, so a 65 - 71 cu yd tipper reaches legal weight before it is full.
Keep drop heights low when loading, discharge steadily through a hydraulic door or root hatch, keep the body clean and sheet every load. A moving floor unloads more gently than tipping.
Yes. Potatoes are a permissible load under TASCC rules, so they can be carried in a TASCC-registered trailer, with the load and cleaning recorded as part of the trailer's previous-load history.
Yes. Newton Trailers offers tipping trailer hire for the harvest peak, as well as new and used trailers for sale. Call 01525 872466.
Potato trailers also carry the other root crops. See our guides to trailers for carrots, sugar beet and wheat.
GB Potatoes: the industry body representing the British potato supply chain.
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UK 2025 potato crop estimate: Hort News, citing World Potato Markets. Potato growing regions: Potato Production in Northwestern Europe (Potato Research). Density, payload and trailer recommendations: Newton Trailers.
Page last updated: September 2026. Newton Trailers - the best trailer for potatoes in the UK.
| Best Match | Options | Volume | Payload | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | STAS Plank Sided Tipping Trailer | 71 CuYds (54.3m3) | 29650kg | |
| Used | 2022 STAS Plank Sided Tipping Trailer | 71 CuYds (54.3m3) | 29750kg | |
| Also See | 2023 STAS Plank Sided Tipping Trailer | 71 CuYds (54.3m3) | 29750kg | |
| Also See | 2021 STAS Plank Sided Tipping Trailer | 71 CuYds (54.3m3) | 29750kg | |
| Also See | 2022 STAS Plank Sided Tipping Trailer | 71 CuYds (54.3m3) | 29750kg | |
| Also See | 2022 STAS Plank Sided Tipping Trailer | 71 CuYds (54.3m3) | 29750kg | |
| Also See | 2024 STAS Plank Sided Tipping Trailer | 71 CuYds (54.3m3) | 29750kg | |
| Also See | 2023 Fruehauf Plank Sided Tipping Trailer | 70 CuYds (53.5m3) | 29700kg | |
