How to tell if you need a towing licence

[aspenarb]

SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!!!! Those cheating little bastards...... I would have loved an auto on test day!

 

My old Foden has not got any synchro`s so its double the clutch up and down the box , let a newby take that on a test

 

Bob

[openspaceman]

During the war you can get an exemption to drive any vehicle for operational needs. She would also have had a C1E licence so 7500kg trucks were ok & back then the restriction did not apply so it was the full 12000kg GTW.

 

Plus fire tenders have exemptions.

 

I think you still needed to hold a provisional licence but road tests were suspended and could be converted up till shortly after the war.

 

Even recently squaddies of 17 could drive HGVs with a military licence.

[Justme]

I think you still needed to hold a provisional licence but road tests were suspended and could be converted up till shortly after the war.

 

Even recently squaddies of 17 could drive HGVs with a military licence.

 

The age limits for everyone have been reduced. Not to the same age but closer.

[richy_B]

I'm interested in that question as well. I tow pretty much every day and like to think of myself as pretty damn good at it

I did my B + E a few years back and I had been towing heavy trailers daily for years before (boats and agri equipment). I would have classed myself as a very competent tow'er but it was worth doing a days training before the test. They don't necessarily teach you to use a trailer, they teach you how to pass a test to show you can tow a trailer. Saying the right thing, making it obvious you are checking the right thing, etc.

 

I actually found the reversing manoeurve a bit tricky. You need to reverse in to coned area adjacent to you. I, as many of us, are constantly reversing chipper and trailers up and down drives, 3 point turning a trailer on tight roads, etc but found this a move one I wasn't comfy with. To be fair I think it was the lack of objects around me that made it more difficult. I've done the same thing reversing up a lane way but without the banks/hedges you can't quite tell you are on track.

Edited January 22, 2017 by richy_B

[richy_B]

This is the move (nicked from google)

 

[agg221]

The fact that plated weight rather than actual weight is used is, at times, frustrating. My plant trailer, unloaded, is under 750kg so someone with a post-97 licence could legally bring it to a site unladen if it wasn't for the plate.

 

I have contemplated having a second, de-rated plate made up since they are only fixed with a few aluminium pop-rivets (has to be 'permanently affixed' rather than bolted). It would be the work of 5mins to swap over for the occasional emergency use and so far as I can see would be perfectly legal?

 

Out of interest, does the 'braked' requirement apply to plated or actual weight? Is it legal to buy a trailer plated at over 750kg, unladen weight under 750kg, with faulty brakes, and tow it home empty?

 

Alec

[Justme]

The fact that plated weight rather than actual weight is used is, at times, frustrating. My plant trailer, unloaded, is under 750kg so someone with a post-97 licence could legally bring it to a site unladen if it wasn't for the plate.

 

I have contemplated having a second, de-rated plate made up since they are only fixed with a few aluminium pop-rivets (has to be 'permanently affixed' rather than bolted). It would be the work of 5mins to swap over for the occasional emergency use and so far as I can see would be perfectly legal?

 

Out of interest, does the 'braked' requirement apply to plated or actual weight? Is it legal to buy a trailer plated at over 750kg, unladen weight under 750kg, with faulty brakes, and tow it home empty?

 

Alec

 

Last question first.

 

IF brakes are fitted they must work on all wheels even if the trailer is under 750kg.

 

Trailer over 750kg MUST have brakes, ones under it can have them if you want. So yes you could derate the trailer to allow it to be towed. However the reality is that you might get pulled if your young employee is pulling what looks to be a heavy trailer with a heavy vehicle.

[Justme]

This is a real client doing the maneuver for the 4th time during training.

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/TrailerTrainingCymru/videos/1797129693880662/

 

I have also attached the exercise area & the legal requirement for rearward view.

LGV_PCV_BE_manoeuvring_exercise_area_diagram.pdf

Edited January 22, 2017 by Justme

[Justme]

This is the move (nicked from google)

 

 

That pic is right for lorries over 12m But for ones under 12m (IE BE vehicle & trailer) the bay is the same length as the vehicle & trailer.

 

Plus B to Z is now 2 times the length not 3.

[Billhook]

My dad drove in burma in 1944 for the RAF this qualified him for a full english licence for all categories when his provisional was converted to full in 1946, he never drove again till I gave him lessons in 1971 and never got the hang of it so gave up

 

Sort of, IIRC we all could claim grandfather rights for lorries by stating you had driven lorries commercially for more than 12 months prior to 1967, you may have needed to be over 21 at the time. Failing to claim meant you lost the entitlement.

 

Then the test was 2 axle to 16 tonnes (class 3??) Multi axle rigid to 26 tonne and artic to 28tonne (class 1). I didn't claim but think I was probably too young at the time (and hadn't driven more than bedford RL)

 

A chap I know who came from a posh family was driven to his private school by his elegant mother in the early 60s. They were stuck in a traffic jam when the driver of a tank transporter had a heart attack and his 17 year old squaddie co driver couldn't . Stubbsy's mum climbed into the lorry and set off down the road with it to a parking place, she had been in the ATS during the war, he was gobsmacked.

 

I thought that the recommendation was to keep people calm and quiet after a heart attack!

 

Thank you for the other information, so my mother obviously had not driven again after the war and would not have kept her rights, so she left this life still believing that she was a trucker!