What size wheel chock do I need for an HGV?

The dimension that matters is the chock's height, because a chock works by presenting a face the tyre must climb. In the Thorworld range the plastic TWC-12 and steel TWC-10 both stand 230 mm high, the rubber TWC-1 stands 190 mm and the cast aluminium TWC-3 stands 180 mm. On a typical HGV tyre of around 1,050 mm diameter, a 230 mm chock stands at a little over 40% of the wheel's radius. Note that price runs inverse to height on this range: the two tallest chocks are the two cheapest.

What is the best material for a wheel chock?

For HGV and trailer work on yard surfaces, moulded rubber is the usual default. Thorworld specifies a safety grip face on the rubber chocks only, and rubber deforms slightly against both tyre and ground, which is what gives it bite on smooth or damp concrete. Plastic is the cheapest and lightest and is highly visible; steel resists kerbing but is the one material in the range that can corrode; cast aluminium will not rust or perish in UV and oil.

Which is the lightest wheel chock in the range?

The yellow plastic TWC-12 at 2 kg, which is also the cheapest at £43.68. The cast aluminium TWC-3 is often assumed to be the lightest but is 3.25 kg — heavier than the plastic chock and £119.52. If ease of carrying is the deciding factor, the cheapest chock in the range is also the lightest.

What weight can a wheel chock hold?

Thorworld's specification does not state a holding capacity, a maximum vehicle weight or a maximum gradient for any chock in this range, and wheel chocks are broadly sold without a published holding figure across the market. We will not invent one. If your risk assessment needs a number, ask us in writing and we will go back to the manufacturer — and if a supplier quotes you a tonnage, ask which document it comes from.

Can wheel chocks be chained to the loading bay?

Yes, using the TWC-2 anti-theft retaining chain, which is 5 m long and costs £63.36. It is listed as fitting the TWC-1 rubber, TWC-3 cast aluminium and TWC-10 steel chocks. It is not listed for the yellow plastic TWC-12, so the cheapest chock in the range is the one that cannot be tethered — the cheapest chock you can chain is the steel TWC-10 at £48.72.

Is a retaining chain worth the money?

It depends what you are buying. At £63.36 the chain costs £11.40 more than the rubber chock it secures and £14.64 more than the steel one, so for three of the four chocks a spare chock is cheaper than a chain. A chain buys you the chock being in a specific place — at that bay, findable, not carried off on a trailer. If you only need a chock to be available somewhere on site, buying two is the cheaper answer.

Do wheel chocks replace trailer safety supports?

No. A chock stops a wheel rolling; it does nothing about the load path through a trailer's landing legs. Where a trailer is split from its unit or loaded while uncoupled, a trailer safety support carries that load. Chocks work alongside trailer supports, the parking brake and the site's keys-out or key-exchange procedure, not instead of any of them.

HGV & Trailer Wheel Chocks | Rubber, Steel & Aluminium

Q: Are these wheel chocks suitable for a car or caravan?

No — they are more chock than you need. This range starts at £43.68 because it is sized for HGVs, rigids and trailers. Chocks for cars, caravans, campervans and motorbikes are a separate consumer market selling at roughly £5 to £40, and for that job the cheap chock is the right tool.

This collection holds the Thorworld wheel chock range — four chocks and one retaining chain, £43.68 to £119.52. They are moulded rubber, steel, cast aluminium and yellow plastic, and they are sized and priced for HGVs, rigids and trailers in a working loading bay, not for cars on a driveway. Every item is made by Thorworld Industries, most of it at their Chesterfield factory.

Before you go further: this is not the consumer chock market

Search "wheel chocks" and most of what comes back is £5 to £40 plastic and rubber chocks for cars, caravans, campervans and motorbikes. That is a different product for a different vehicle, and it is sold by motor factors and DIY sheds rather than by loading bay suppliers.

If you are levelling a touring caravan or holding a car on a driveway ramp, buy the cheap one — it is the right tool and we would only be selling you a heavier chock than you need. Our range starts at £43.68 because it is built to sit under a 44-tonne artic on a wet yard surface, which is a materially different job from stopping a 1,400 kg hatchback creeping on a slope. The rest of this page assumes commercial vehicles.

The four chocks at a glance

Every figure below is taken directly from the Thorworld specification tables on the product pages. The size column carries Thorworld's own W × L × T heading.

Model	Material	Size W × L × T (mm)	Weight	Price
TWC-12	Yellow plastic	200 × 440 × 230	2 kg	£43.68
TWC-10	Steel	270 × 200 × 230	4.5 kg	£48.72
TWC-1	Moulded rubber	190 × 270 × 190	6 kg	£51.96
TWC-3	Cast aluminium	400 × 180 × 180	3.25 kg	£119.52
TWC-2	Retaining chain, 5 m	—	1 kg	£63.36

A correction to our own earlier guidance on the aluminium chock

This page previously described the cast aluminium TWC-3 as weighing "just 3.25 kg, so it's the easiest to carry", and as having "a long, low profile". Checked against the specification tables, both statements were wrong, and they were the two reasons the page gave for its price. We would rather correct that in public than leave it selling a chock on an advantage it does not have.

It is not the lightest chock in the range. The yellow plastic TWC-12 is 2 kg against the aluminium chock's 3.25 kg — and it is £43.68 against £119.52. Buying the aluminium chock for portability means paying £75.84 more for 1.25 kg more weight. If the only thing that matters is how easily a driver can lift and place it, the cheapest chock in the range is also the lightest.

And it is not long and low — it is wide and low. On Thorworld's own W × L × T heading, the TWC-3's 400 mm is its width: the dimension that lies across the tyre tread. Its length along the ground is 180 mm, the shortest in the range. Our previous copy read the 400 mm as a length and then recommended the chock for larger wheel diameters on that basis, which is the reverse of what the figures support.

Because that axis question is exactly what caused the error, we will say plainly what we do and do not know: we are publishing Thorworld's numbers under Thorworld's own column headings. If you are specifying against a particular tyre size and the orientation matters to your decision, ask us to confirm it against the manufacturer's drawing before you order rather than working from the table alone.

On this range, price runs inverse to chock height

Ranked on the third dimension — the height the chock stands off the ground — the range reads:

230 mm — plastic TWC-12, £43.68
230 mm — steel TWC-10, £48.72
190 mm — rubber TWC-1, £51.96
180 mm — cast aluminium TWC-3, £119.52

The two tallest chocks in the range are the two cheapest, and the shortest is nearly three times the price of the tallest. Height matters because a chock works by presenting a face the tyre has to climb: the taller it stands relative to the wheel's radius, the more it resists rolling. On a typical HGV tyre of roughly 1,050 mm diameter — a radius of about 525 mm — a 230 mm chock stands at a little over 40% of the radius and a 180 mm chock at a little over a third.

That does not make the aluminium chock a bad product. It does mean you cannot buy up this range for more holding ability, because the taller chocks are at the bottom of it. What the extra money buys is the material, and you should decide on that basis rather than on price implying capability.

Choosing the material

Moulded rubber — TWC-1, £51.96, 6 kg. The heaviest chock and the one Thorworld specifies a grip face on. It is our default recommendation for HGV and trailer work on yard surfaces, and it is also the largest term buyers search for. Rubber deforms slightly against the tyre and against the ground, which is what gives it its bite on smooth or damp concrete. The trade-off is weight: at 6 kg it is three times the plastic chock, and a driver placing four of them at every bay will notice.

Yellow plastic — TWC-12, £43.68, 2 kg. The cheapest and the lightest, and the longest at 440 mm. High-visibility yellow is a genuine advantage in a busy yard, both for the driver placing it and for anyone checking it is still there before a vehicle moves. Note the chain limitation below — this is the one chock in the range that cannot be tethered.

Steel — TWC-10, £48.72, 4.5 kg. Steel is harder than rubber or plastic and will not tear or deform under repeated kerbing. It is also the only one of the four that can corrode, and Thorworld's specification does not state a finish or coating, so if the chocks will live outdoors year-round that is worth asking about before you order.

Cast aluminium — TWC-3, £119.52, 3.25 kg. Aluminium does not rust and does not perish in UV or oil the way rubber eventually will. It is the widest bearing face in the range at 400 mm. It is also the most expensive by a wide margin, and as set out above the specification does not support the portability case that is usually made for it. Buy it because you want a metal chock that will not corrode — not because it is light and not because it is the strongest, neither of which the data says.

Two details in the small print that change the order

The grip face is specified on rubber only. Thorworld's wording is "all rubber wheel chocks have a safety grip face for maximum adhesion between vehicle wheel and chock". It says that of rubber. It does not say it of the plastic, steel or aluminium chocks, and we will not imply otherwise. If grip on a smooth or wet surface is the deciding factor, that points at the rubber chock specifically.

Handles are not standard across the range. The rubber chock has a built-in lifting handle. The cast aluminium TWC-3 and steel TWC-10 are also available with handles for improved manual handling and visibility, which is a variant to specify rather than something you get by default. Nothing in the plastic chock's specification mentions a handle.

The retaining chain costs more than three of the four chocks

Chocks walk. The TWC-2 anti-theft retaining chain is 5 m long and tethers a chock to the dock or a fixed point so it is always at the bay where it is needed. It costs £63.36.

Set that against the chocks themselves and the arithmetic is worth doing before you order a chain for every bay:

Chaining a £51.96 rubber chock costs £63.36 — the tether is £11.40 more than the chock.
Chaining a £48.72 steel chock costs £14.64 more than the chock.
Only the £119.52 aluminium chock costs more than its own chain.

So for three of the four chocks, a spare chock is cheaper than a chain. That is not an argument against chaining — it is an argument for being clear what you are buying. A chain buys you the chock being in a specific place: at that bay, on that dock, findable in the dark, not carried off to another yard on a trailer. If what you actually want is simply that a chock is always available somewhere on site, buying two and accepting that one wanders is the cheaper answer. If you need the chock to be at bay 4 every time, the chain earns its keep even at £63.36.

And the cheapest chock is the one you cannot chain

Thorworld lists the TWC-2 chain as fitting TWC-1, TWC-3 and TWC-10 — the rubber, cast aluminium and steel chocks. It does not list the yellow plastic TWC-12. If your specification is "cheapest chock, tethered to the bay", those two requirements are not compatible in this range: the cheapest chock you can tether is the steel TWC-10 at £48.72, and the pairing comes to £112.08. A chock that has wandered off the bay is not under a wheel, so this is worth settling before the order rather than after.

How many, and where

Chocking practice varies by site and by the risk assessment behind it, so treat the following as the common shape rather than a rule we are setting for you.

Place the chock snugly against the tyre, on the side the vehicle would roll towards. A chock with a gap in front of it lets the wheel gather momentum before it meets anything.
Chock before loading or unloading starts, not once the forklift is already on the bed, and leave the chocks in place until the work is finished and the driver has been told.
Chock both sides of a wheel where the ground falls away in either direction, and chock a second axle on a long trailer if the gradient is significant.
A chock is not the parking brake and it is not a trailer support. Where a trailer is being split from its unit, or loaded while uncoupled, the load path through the landing legs is what needs supporting — see trailer safety supports. Chocks work with those, not instead of them.
Chocking sits alongside the site's other vehicle-movement controls — keys-out or key-exchange procedures, traffic light systems, and the banksman arrangements set out in your own safe system of work. HSE's workplace transport guidance is the sensible starting point if you are writing that from scratch.

What the product data does not state — and why we are saying so

A wheel chock exists to hold a vehicle. Across all five items in this range, the manufacturer's specification does not state:

a holding capacity or maximum vehicle weight
a maximum gradient
a British or European standard the chock is made or tested to
a warranty period
a lead time or stock status
a temperature, UV or chemical resistance rating

We are not going to invent any of those, and you should be wary of a supplier who quotes one without saying where it comes from. Unlike ramps and dockboards — where every dockplate and dockboard we sell carries a rated capacity in kilogrammes — wheel chocks are broadly sold without a published holding figure across the market, which is precisely why the material, the height and the grip face are the things worth comparing.

If your risk assessment needs a number against a chock, ask us in writing and we will go back to Thorworld for it rather than reading one off a competitor's page. And if a rival quotes you a tonnage, ask which document it comes from — the answer tells you a lot.

Delivery and handling

These are the one part of the loading bay range that arrives as a parcel rather than on a lorry. The heaviest item here is 6 kg, so unlike a 160 kg dockboard or a 775 kg steel ramp-and-platform, nothing in this collection needs a forklift to unload or two people to place. That is the practical reason chocks tend to be the control that actually gets used: anyone on the bay can carry one.

No fixings, no installation and no groundworks — the only thing to fix is the anchor point if you are specifying the chain, and that is a fixing we do not supply, in line with the rest of the loading bay range.

The rest of the loading bay

Chocks are one control among several. Alongside them, the bay usually needs dock bumpers to take the impact of a reversing trailer, dock lights so the trailer interior is lit rather than the doorway, and trailer safety supports where trailers are dropped. Where there is no dock at all, container access ramps and dockboards and dockplates bridge the gap, and truck dock platforms and loading accessories fill in around them. For yard edges and pedestrian routes near vehicle movements, see safety barriers.

On the handling side, pallet trucks and trucks and trolleys are what comes off the trailer once it is chocked, and access platforms and steps, warehouse safety steps and mobile safety steps cover working at height around vehicles.

For the wider picture, read our guides to loading bay safety, loading bay equipment without a dock, dockboards versus dockplates and choosing a ground-level container ramp.

Not sure which chock suits your vehicles and your yard surface? Call us and we will talk it through against the real specifications — including telling you when the £43.68 one is the right answer.