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Car transporting question

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S188:
A friend of mine was telling me the other day he was getting his 206SW modified so it could be towed with his perents RV (he had to take a LGV test to drive it but his perents didn't so I think it must be close to but under 7.5ton.)

I did question its legality because I recon the car must weight atleast a tonne and have a gross weight of probubly more than 1.5tonnes.  Presumably this conversion would be braked but I doubt he'd be able to tow it himself with a cat C licance anyway as he has no +E entitlement.  I'll see him tonight so if I remember I'll ask how this idea is going (he seemed pritty unaware at first and asumed it must all be fine as his dad had probubly made inquiryes into it)

Cirtainly if you don't have +E entitlement towing stuff with a car its the trailer gross weight thats important not its weight at the time of towing, which genrally makes towing a braked triler a problem for younger drivers (though sometimes legally possable).

If you aren't aloud to tow a trailer with a max gross weight of more than the towing vehicle (regardless of if your useing the capacity) I'd have thought there would be alot of people breaking the law on a regular basis which could be easy to spot.  Example, most twin axle trailers like Ifor Williams ones have a gross weight of 3.5t (smaller ones can be 2t).  Modern landys are some of the few vehicles that are plated to tow these things fully loaded.  Series vehicles are only plated to 2 ton (if plated, would that mean you could pull 3.5t on an early one? Obveously stopping might be a struggle).  My Dads VW Transporter has an unsually generus towing capacity of 2.5 tonnes for a non 4x4 and cars are often pathetic (so even a 2t trailer would be way too big for them).  Never the less you can often see many of these vehicles towing big twin axle trailers on a dayly basis on the motorway.  Surely if it was ilegal alot would have been booked by now and you'd be hearing about it.  Sofar all I've herd is that younger drivers towing trailers are starting to be pulled over as the police are wakeing up to the fact few have B+E licances or understand the rules.

I was once told if you use an A frame you should fiddle with the oil presure switch so the warning light won't go out.  You can then claim the vehicle has a fault that needs attenchion by a qualified mecanic hence being towed.  (Can't drive it with an engine warning light lit afterall). ANyone know if thats true?

V8MoneyPit:

--- Quote from: "CaptainColourful" ---.....The law regards this as an unbraked trailer and you are allowed to tow up to 750 kg Gross Trailer Weight, not a car’s kerb weight. The figure you have to use is the car’s Gross Vehicle Weight .....
--- End quote ---


That's what I was believing. It's no longer the actual weight you are towing, but the gross weight (the weight the trailer is capable of carrying plus it's unladed weight). I seem to remember it used to be just the weight you are towing at that moment, but it was impossible to enforce. If you were stopped you woul dhave to be escorted to a weigh bridge!! It is much easier to enforce a law based around gross weigh because it's marked on the trailer.

Of course, when it's a car on an A frame, the gross weight would have to be obtained from DVLA or the manufacturer, unless you have the handbook in the vehicle!

CaptainColourful:
I notice that Rollazooki (sp) has started a similar thread on towing law. Thers a couple of links there, one of which i have mentioned above.

 The DVLC link is good if you can understand the wording about which licences cover what.

That's probably why the police are only just starting to pull younger drivers who are towing trailers, they have probably been on a course and are trying to use their recently boosted knowledge of the somewhat complicated laws  :!:

Range Rover Blues:
As stated above, towing a broken down vehicle to a place of safety is the only "legal" way you can use an 'A' frame, but in the same circumstances you can also tow a vehicle connected to a trailer, so we are talking 'special circumstance'/

If you adapt a car to use the car's brakes then it must comply with the 1986 C&U regs, as stated previoulsy and no car brakes do, for one reaosn the C&U regs require reversible brakes for a trailer, completely the opposite of what you need in a car.  The only way round that is to tow a pre-1986 small car, eg a Fiat 126.  I'd rather walk :lol:

IF you hold catagory B+E then you CAN tow a trailer with a MAM (MTPLM) greater than the car's kerbweight, provided you do not exceed the car's rated towing ability.

If the MAM of the trailer exceeds the car's max trailer weight you CAN load the trailer to within the manufacturer's stated max trailer load. I don't know whether you could then argue that you loaded it within cat B only and wouldn't like to put it to the test, ie a car trailer loaded to under 750kg max :?

Butu, you could then in theory tow an empty car trailer with say a Fiesta, max trailer weight (depending on model) is 900kg, our trailer is about 650kg, to pick up a LR, then tow the Fiesta/trailer home with the LR, legally.  The later would require B&E so any concerns about towing without it would be accedemic.

NB, if you are careful in your selction of car/trailer or caravn you can tow beyond 750kg without B&E.  My sister's first 'van, a 14 foot 2 berth had an unladen weight of 710KG and a MAM of 900KG IIRC.  This can be towed by a RRC (not a Disco though) as the MAM of a RRC is 2,510KG.

If you took a Mondeo then you would be able to tow about 1200KG caravan :wink:  but you CANNOT exceed the kerbweight of the car.

Confused :?

It's a matter of knowing which bit fo law to apply when.

V8MoneyPit:

--- Quote from: "Range Rover Blues" ---Confused :?
--- End quote ---


Totally....  :lol:

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