Towing trailers and the law.

[Coletti]

Little bit of information you may or may not know but is interesting and could help. As I'm sure you all know, if you passed your test after January the first 1997 you can only tow up to 750kg, or so it would seem, after doing a little research I have discovered that you can actually tow a fair bit more than that. Basically it states that if you pass your test after the 1/1/1997 you can tow a trailer weighing more than 750kg as long as the loaded weight of the trailer doesn't exceed the un laden kerb weight of the vehicle used to tow and that gross train weight of loaded trailer and vehicle doesn't exceed 3500kg. For arguments sake. If the kerb weight of the vehicle being used is 1500kg a person without a trailer licence can tow a trailer weighing 1500kg loaded leaving 500kg that could be loaded onto the truck, thought and feelings on this are more than welcome and here's a link to where I found the information

 

https://www.gov.uk/towing-with-car/driving-licence-rules-and-what-you-can-tow

[Justme]

Been posted on here lots already.

[WorcsWuss]

Don't think it's quite that clear cut is it...? I thought it was based on MAM of the rig rather than actual weights...? And it's difficult to find a trailer plated at exactly the right weight to give you your total permissible weight without being over.... So, while you may only be towing 3/4 a tonne on your 1/2t trailer, but if the trailer is plated with a MAM of 2.5t, add that 2.5t to the ULW of your tow vehicle, say Defender 90 at approx 1.5t plus the permissible load will give the tow car a MAM/GVW of, what, 2t...? And presto, GTW is 4.5t, and you're a ton over.... Or something like that....

 

Basically, those of us fortunate enough to still be [relatively] young, but unfortunate enough to have been dicked over by the money grubbing commies, can only really tow 750kg, legally.... no matter how we slice it...

 

I'm sure that somewhere out there is the tow car of the perfect GVW and the trailer of the perfect plated MAM.... I doubt however that this combination would be anyone's first choice for arb work....!

 

And yes, lots of good threads on this...

[treequip]

Incidentally.... a 300 TDi Disco can't even tow 750kg and stay below the 3.5t combined MAM limit...!

 

Thats a good thing, a halfords pressed tin special would look like a wheelbarrow behind a disco

[WorcsWuss]

Thats a good thing, a halfords pressed tin special would look like a wheelbarrow behind a disco

 

I think rather than the upper limit on towing, those frightening little pinballs should be banned from the roads....!

[ukminch]

I think that 15 years on people really ought to get these laws, they're really not new anymore!

[Coletti]

As long as the trailer weighs no more than 750kg it can be towed on a licence passed after 1/1/1997 as long as that vehicles mam is no more than 3500kg without a trailer, giving the driver a gtw of 4250kg. The other way that I was explaining goes not on the mam of the vehicle but in the un laden kerb weight of that vehicle and yes, you are correct that the trailers plated weight cannot weigh more than the kerb weight.

[WorcsWuss]

I think that 15 years on people really ought to get these laws, they're really not new anymore!

 

I think it's less about the law and more about the maths....

 

If it was as simple as 'MAM>750KG=Illegal' or 'GTW>3500KG=Illegal' then it would be easy.

 

But as ever the civil service made it far more complicated than it perhaps could have been....

 

Of course, the better alternative would have been to leave it as it was at 8.25t GTW on a standard car license..... then at least a normal person could use the 3.5t towing capacity of any Land Rover perfectly legally...

 

But how would they have stashed a few extra quid in their pockets if they'd done that....?

[Coletti]

I personally find this law heighly frustrating as I have 8 years experience with big trailers behind tractors yet still cannot tow anything of importance behind a car/truck, another thing that ticks me off is that someone of 17 years old can pass his driving test and is automatically given the licence to go and drive a tractor with huge trailer with no experience what so ever and if I'm not mistaken, that means he can drive the legal limit of 26t gtw with tractor and trailer

[WorcsWuss]

I personally find this law heighly frustrating as I have 8 years experience with big trailers behind tractors yet still cannot tow anything of importance behind a car/truck, another thing that ticks me off is that someone of 17 years old can pass his driving test and is automatically given the licence to go and drive a tractor with huge trailer with no experience what so ever and if I'm not mistaken, that means he can drive the legal limit of 26t gtw with tractor and trailer

 

That's an entirely different kettle of saugsages.... You have to get a drive first if you're going to drive a tractor and trailer, and in my experience, the most mental of the lot are the young farmers with a few years experience behind them anyway....!

 

Anyone can go out and get any license or ticket if they can afford it and apply themself in the test, and quite right, it doesn't mean they're necessarily any good.

 

Yes, the law is a pain, but it's £115 for a trailer test if you want to do it, so a damn sight cheaper than CS39..... unfortunately, unless they change the law back we're stuck with it. Or we flout it. The choice is yours!