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Towing frames

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bilge rat:
not reading this in depth but ive just bought  a disco  (non runner ,no tax) was thinking to tow it on a solid bar to go down the route of a close coupled trailer. spoke to the police and they said all 4 wheels had to off the road unless it was taxed and insured.so i borrowed a trailer ..

Range Rover Blues:
Most of you seem to have grasped the truth (or like Buhdists we all see part of it).  And Well done to Carbore for being the most accurate.

If a car has any wheels on the floor, it must be road legal.  If you are going to call it a trailer it must have been modyfied to make it exclussively a trailer, ie no engine.  It then has to meet C&U regs for a trailer as it is considered built or significantly modified after the qualifying date (mid '80s IIRC).

ANY TRAILER MUST HAVE TRAILER BRAKES.  There is no way any car on the road will comply with European Directive 71/320/EEC because that requires amongst other things that the brakes allow the trailer to be reversed without the brakes being applied, so connecting it to either the car handbrake or footbrake it not legal.

Unless the MAXIMUM mass of the car with the A frame fitted is below 750kg then it must have brakes that comply with said directive, end of story.

If the MAM of the trailer is more than 50% of the kerb weight of the car it must have brakes.

The trailer can weight more than the car if the car was designed to tow that weight, a trailer with a MAM above the car's tow limit can be loaded up to the car's tow limit.  However cat B does not permit a trailer MAM to exceed the kerb weight of the car.  I'm not going into all the licencing rules here, suffice to say if you don't have B+E you won't be towing a car AT ALL.

Confused yet?

Trailer lights have different requirements than car lights.  The reflectors particularly plus any trailer over 71/2 feet excluding the drawbar must also have front corner markers.

'A' frames can never be legal in any circumstance, the law allows you to "bend" the rules if a vehicle is broken down and needs moving to safety.  Same rules as allows a rigid tow-pole or even a rope.

If you had a dolly with it's own overrun brakes then you can use it to transport a car, BUT that car must be road leagl if it still has 2 wheels on the road.  You also have issues that the axle on the dolly has to be rated to carry the entire weight of the car so that the brakes are then rated sufficiently for the car and the dolly, or put another way any trailer can be braked on one axle only provided the brakes are rated high enough for the whole trailer, loaded.

As for anyone towing a small car behind a camper van, again ILLEGAL.  If dealers are charging money to supply cars thus modified they need a visit from VOSA, taking money from punters, whilst not excusing the camper owner, makes the dealer liable too but for different reasons (fit for purpose).

Just getting away repeatedly with an offense is not an excuse either!


Moderators, how about a sticky in the caravans tents and trailer section? this one comes up all the time.

redhand:

--- Quote from: Range Rover Blues ---Moderators, how about a sticky in the caravans tents and trailer section? this one comes up all the time.


--- End quote ---

If it is made into a sticky This might be useful as well

Note on A-Frames and Dollies, issued by the Department for Transport

When an "A" frame is attached to a vehicle (e.g. a motor car) and towed by a motor vehicle (e.g. motorhome) we believe the "A" frame and car become a single unit and as such are classified in legislation as a trailer. As a consequence the car and A-frame are required to meet the technical requirements for trailers when used on the road in Great Britain. These requirements are contained within the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 (SI 1986/107 as amended (C&U) and the Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989 (SI 1989/1796) as amended (RVLR).

Trailers having a combined axle mass not exceeding 750kg are not required to have brakes fitted. However, if the trailer (regardless of mass) is fitted with a braking system, then all brakes in that system must operate correctly. The regulations do not include design constraints on how this should be achieved but, for example, it could be met by direct linking of the trailer brakes to the brake system of the towing vehicle or by automatic inertia (overrun) operation via the towing hitch. Inertia systems can only be used for trailers with a maximum combined axle mass of 3500kg.

Regulations 15 and 16 set out the braking requirements - including minimum braking efficiencies for trailer brakes. Subject to certain age exemptions, the regulation requires the braking system to comply with the construction, fitting and performance requirements of European Community Directive 71/320/EEC along with its various amending Directives. The most recent consolidated directive is 98/12/EC. Alternatively the braking system can comply with the corresponding UNECE Regulation No.13.09.

In addition, C&U Regulation 18 requires the braking system to be maintained in good and efficient working order. If the brakes of the towing vehicle do not directly operate the trailer brakes the use of an inertia (overrun) system is acceptable. If the trailer braking system has power assistance (i.e. servo or full power) it is likely that this assistance will be required while in motion to meet the required braking efficiencies. This is because once the vacuum reservoir is depleted it is possible that the brakes will not meet the braking efficiency. To prevent the trailer being used illegally a remote vacuum pump, powered from the tow vehicle, could be installed to recharge the reservoir, alternatively a source could be made available from the tow vehicle. From 1 October 1988 the inertia braking system was required to allow the trailer to be reversed by the towing vehicle without imposing a sustained drag and such devices used for this purpose must engage and disengage automatically. This will be very difficult to achieve on an "A" frame using an inertia (overrun) device.

Other provisions from Regulation 15 and Regulation 86A of C&U require the fitting and use of a secondary coupling system in which the trailer is stopped automatically if the main coupling separates whilst the combination is in motion. Alternatively, in the case of trailers up to a maximum mass of 1500kg, the drawbar must be prevented from touching the ground and the trailer able to retain some residual steering.

Whilst being towed, trailers are subject to the relevant requirements given in RVLR, including the use of triangular red reflectors. There would be further requirements for the display of the appropriate number plate, etc.

The use of "dollies" is intended for the recovery of broken down vehicles, not for the transportation of a vehicle from "A" to "B". Under Regulation 83 of C&U a motor car is permitted to tow two trailers when one of them is a towing implement and the other is secured to and either rests on or is suspended from the implement. Therefore as a trailer if the maximum laden weight of the dolly exceeds 750 kg it must be fitted with operational brakes, additionally the brakes on the wheels of the second trailer (the towed car) must work and meet the specified requirements. Again this would be very difficult for the rear brakes of a motor car, on their own, to meet the 50% braking efficiency required for a trailer. The dolly would also be required by Regulation 22 of C&U to be fitted with suspension. Regulations 19 and 22 in C&U permit a broken down vehicle to be recovered without complying with these requirements. However, there is further legislation under the Road Traffic Act that introduces a limitation on the maximum speed that the combination can be driven; this is 40mph on motorways and 20mph on other roads.

We do not supply copies of legislation but I have included some information on various sources where they can be obtained. If you would like to purchase printed copies of Statutory Instruments these are available from TSO:

The Stationery Office Tel:
PO Box 29 Fax: 0870 600 5533
St Crispins e-mail: book.orders@tso.co.uk
Duke Street online ordering: www.tso.co.uk/bookshop
Norwich NR3 1GN

Alternatively you can consult "The Encyclopedia of Road Traffic Law and Practice" published by Sweet and Maxwell. This publication is updated regularly and is available in most city reference libraries.

EU Directives can be found at:
http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/search/search_lif.html

UN-ECE Regulations can be found at: http://www.unece.org/trans/main/wp29/wp29regs.html

From the above I hope it is clear that we believe the use of "A" frames to tow cars behind other vehicles is legal provided the braking and lighting requirements are met. However, while this is our understanding of the meaning of the Regulations, it is only the Courts which can reach a definitive interpretation of the law.


Alan Mendelson
Primary Safety Branch
Department for Transport


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Footnote:
As the above is somewhat technical in nature we advise anyone buying an A-frame towing system to obtain a written declaration from the supplier that the particular installation, as supplied, meets all UK legislative requirements. It is also essential that your insurers, for both the car and the motorhome, are made aware of the towing arrangement in use.


As it says above Use of an Aframe isn't illegal but getting it to meet all the minimum legal requirement are going to be so difficult that it might as well be..

general baxter:
looks like trailer then,  iv worked hard at getting all the classes on my licence, and dont want to throw it away doing something dumb  :roll:

Eeyore:

--- Quote from: henryandlesley on September 09, 2008, 19:12:13 ---ok then how many of us have used an aframe/towing dolly rope or what ever I know for one it will be nearly all of us i for one has used aframes towing dollies ropes chains towing bars you name it i might have tried so come on then be honest about it how many has used something what they should not have like for towing. All it is some pen pusher who has nothing better to do than come up with these things and ban them same as the bull bars they was thinking about banning them but did it work NO

--- End quote ---

Um, I'm not sure I follow your point here.  :-.

Sure, you're upset. But your not clear about what - expect that people make rules that aren't necessarily popular.

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