List what is on the vehicle. See its points against 1,000, whether the small-load exemption of ADR 1.1.3.6 applies, and what you still need below the threshold.
What is on the vehicle?
Result
Within the 1.1.3.6 exemption
Goods in more than one transport category, so the test is points:966 / 1,000
Room left, in points34
Substance
Category
Quantity
Multiplier
Points
PetrolUN 1203, PG II
2
200L10 × 20
× 3
600
Diesel / gas oil / heating oilUN 1202, PG III
3
300L15 × 20
× 1
300
PropaneUN 1978
2
22kg2 × 11
× 3
66
Total
966
Still required below the threshold: a transport document, one 2 kg fire extinguisher, training for everyone involved, UN packaging, and package marks and labels.
About this calculator
What it works out
Whether a load on one vehicle fits the small-load exemption of ADR 1.1.3.6: its points against 1,000, or its quantity against the category maximum when everything is in one transport category, the room left, and what still applies below the threshold.
Who uses it
Tradespeople and site managers carrying fuel, gas and chemicals in a van, fleet and transport managers checking a mixed load, and dangerous goods safety advisers who want the sum shown line by line.
What it assumes
ADR 2025, which Great Britain applies through CDG 2009. Transport categories come from column (15) of Table A.
The quantity rules of 1.1.3.6.3: litres of contents, net mass of liquefied gas, water capacity of a compressed-gas cylinder, mass of articles without their packaging.
Each package is full. A drained can that has not been cleaned counts in category 4 and adds nothing.
Where it stops
168 entries for 92 UN numbers: fuels, solvents, paints, gases, aerosols, batteries, acids, alkalis and pesticides. Others need Table A.
Gas cartridges (UN 2037) are left out, because ADR does not say how to count them.
Limited quantities and private carriage are not counted at all, so leave them off the list.
Every dangerous good has a transport category in column (15) of ADR Table A. The category sets the most that may travel on one transport unit under the exemption, and the multiplier used when categories are mixed (1.1.3.6.3 and 1.1.3.6.4).
Each maximum times its multiplier comes to 1,000 (999 for category 2), which is where the points come from.
With one category on board, the test is the total quantity against that category’s maximum. With more than one, each quantity is multiplied (category 1 by 50, category 2 by 3, category 3 by 1) and the sum may not exceed 1,000. Class 6.1 liquids in packing group III sit in category 2, not 3.
What counts as the quantity
Goods
Count
Example
Liquids
Litres of contents
A 20 L petrol can: 20
Liquefied and dissolved gases
Net mass of gas, kg
An 11 kg propane cylinder: 11
Compressed gases
Water capacity of the cylinder, L
A 10 L oxygen cylinder: 10
Articles, aerosols and batteries
Mass of the articles without packaging, kg
48 aerosols of 500 g: 24
Three things are left out of the sum altogether (1.1.3.6.5): goods in limited quantities, goods a private individual carries under 1.1.3.1(a), and fuel for the vehicle itself, which includes up to 60 litres in portable fuel containers per transport unit (1.1.3.3).
The third row is the trap: 340 litres of petrol score 1,020 points, and 333.2 litres would fail too although they score 999.6, because petrol on its own is tested against the 333 maximum.
What still applies below the threshold
A transport document under 5.4.1, carried in the cab (8.1.2.1(a)), showing the quantity and the calculated value per transport category.
One portable fire extinguisher for fire classes A, B and C, at least 2 kg of dry powder, to EN 3-7 (8.1.4.2 to 8.1.4.5).
Training for everyone involved, drivers included, under chapter 1.3 (8.2.3).
UN-approved packaging, and package marks and labels under chapter 5.2.
Loading and stowage under chapter 7.5, and no smoking during handling.
The exemption lifts orange plates (5.3), instructions in writing (5.4.3), the ADR driver certificate and vehicle equipment of part 8, and vehicle approval under part 9. Loads under 1.1.3.6 are also free of tunnel restrictions (8.6.3.3).
Private individuals and tradespeople
A private individual carrying goods packaged for retail sale, for personal or domestic use or for leisure or sport, is outside ADR (1.1.3.1(a)). For flammable liquids in refillable containers the limits are 60 litres per container and 240 litres per transport unit. Those goods do not count towards the 1,000 points.
A business carrying goods as a sideline to its main work, such as deliveries to or returns from a building site, repairs or maintenance, may use 1.1.3.1(c): at most 450 litres per packaging, within the 1.1.3.6 totals. It does not cover supply or distribution rounds. In Great Britain, DfT Guidance Note 23 reads it narrowly: a worker carrying goods to a place of work for their own immediate use.
Great Britain
CDG 2009 applies ADR 2025 to road carriage in Great Britain (regulation 5). Road derogation 2 lets classes 2 to 6, 8 and 9 leave the transport document off the vehicle when the load is within 1.1.3.6, although the consignor must still pass the information to the carrier. The derogation covers carriage wholly within the UK.
Goods that are not dangerous goods
Diesel, gas oil and light heating oil with a flash point above 100 °C are not dangerous goods for carriage (ADR 2.2.3.1.1, Note 2). Engine oil, hydraulic oil and AdBlue are not regulated for transport on the safety data sheets we checked; read section 14 of the sheet for your product.
For the containers themselves, the UN number packaging finder lists the drums, jerricans and IBCs a UN number may use, and our guide to ADR reliefs covers limited quantities alongside the 1,000-point rule.
Put this tool on your site
Safety advisers, trainers and trade bodies can embed it free. Paste the code into any web page. The tool updates when we update the rules, and the credit line links back here. Building software instead? The same answer comes as JSON from our free API.
Common questions
How many litres of petrol can I carry without full ADR?
Up to 333 litres, when petrol is the only dangerous good on the vehicle. Petrol (UN 1203) is in transport category 2, whose maximum is 333, so sixteen full 20 litre cans pass and seventeen do not. With other dangerous goods on board, petrol counts three points a litre towards 1,000.
How much diesel can I carry under the 1,000-point rule?
Up to 1,000 litres on its own. Diesel (UN 1202) is in transport category 3, which counts one point per litre, so fifty full 20 litre cans reach the limit exactly. Diesel with a flash point above 100 °C is not a dangerous good for carriage at all.
How are gas cylinders counted for ADR points?
By the gas, not the cylinder. A liquefied gas such as propane or butane counts by its net mass, so an 11 kg propane cylinder is 11 kg, or 33 points in transport category 2. A compressed gas such as oxygen or nitrogen counts by the cylinder’s water capacity in litres.
Do I still need a transport document below 1,000 points?
Yes under ADR: a transport document carried in the cab, one 2 kg fire extinguisher, training for everyone involved, UN packaging and package marks and labels. In Great Britain, road derogation 2 lets classes 2 to 6, 8 and 9 leave the document off the vehicle, though the consignor must still give the carrier the information.
What happens at exactly 1,000 points?
The load still qualifies. The exemption applies when the total does not exceed 1,000. For a load in a single transport category the test is the quantity against that category’s maximum, so 333.2 litres of petrol fails even though it scores under 1,000 points.
Do aerosols count towards the 1,000 points?
Yes, unless they travel as limited quantities. ADR treats an aerosol as an article, so it counts by the mass of the aerosol cans without their outer packaging. Flammable aerosols are in transport category 2, three points per kilogram.
References
The standards and regulations this page relies on, at their issuing body.
Where a market rule is named here, check the current revision before you
specify against it.
Below the threshold the packaging still has to be UN-approved. Tell us what goes in it, the size and the quantity. We reply with the certified design and a price.
