There is a tendency to try to keep abnormal loads off the motorways over here for many reasons - high-speed traffic, congestion, a lot of over-bridges, etc - and also to stay out of built up areas, there's too many overhead lines, etc. It would take a while to get a load out of town at the beginning of a journey and southbound ones would often spend the first night on the way from Stafford in this lay-by - https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=stafford&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Stafford,+United+Kingdom&gl=uk&ll=52.753808,-2.106698&spn=0.001378,0.002411&t=h&z=19&vpsrc=6 - some years ago, a 200 tonne transformer was being taken south and overnighted here. At some point in the night one or two axles failed and this cascaded into the entire side of the trailer collapsing. The transformer then slid off and fell over - luckily, it fell into the field, rather than into the roadway. It took many weeks to retrieve it and fix the remains of the trailer.