Overview
- Professor Nick Finer told the European Congress on Obesity on Tuesday that lift signs overstate how many people can ride because many manufacturers still assume a 75kg average passenger.
- The analysis covered 112 lifts made between 1970 and 2024 by 21 companies in the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Austria and Finland, and matched stated capacities to national weight data.
- Manufacturers raised the per‑person allowance from about 62kg to 75kg between 1972 and 2002, but it has not risen since even as average UK weights reached about 86kg for men and 73kg for women.
- Capacity is set by dividing a lift’s maximum load by an assumed average person, and experts warn that outdated figures can trigger overload cut‑outs, stall cars, and lengthen queues even when rider counts match the posted number.
- Commentators say the gap also fuels stigma and access problems for people living with obesity, and note that a proposed shift to an 80kg standard in the US was not widely adopted and no regulatory changes have been reported in Europe.