How fast do you tow? + road incident

rachk89 said:
I would have phoned the police on him there and then. Call the non emergency number next time they will have a fun chat with him on road rage. I would have been furious if someone endangered my horse like that just to let people over take. There is a road up here that is an A road but somehow they managed to forget to put laybys on it. There are maybe 3 at one end near a city then none anywhere else along it. With not many good opportunities to even let someone past.

Report idiots like this in future please. He was wrong. Arrogant little jumped up git.
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100% this. He caused a dangerous situation. You just held people up for a few mins of their day. Btw very rare incident. You were unlucky, don't let him put you off.
 
I have seen ads for a few american trailers that have a picture of a horse facing backwards . It helps remind people that there are living creatures in there trying to stand up . I will be getting a wrap done for my 3.5 ton . I hope you feel that you can get back out , perhaps without a horse to start with . Once you are more used to it you will feel more able to use those mirrors and notice more around you
 
No absolutely not. You'd have to have been stopped by the police. You are over thinking this, please don't! You will be fine x

cheekywelshie said:
Is it worth putting something on the back saying slow moving, nervous horses or something similar?
So could I now get fined over this?? If he goes and complains to the police?! (I did explain I was new to towing)
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cheekywelshie said:
Is it worth putting something on the back saying slow moving, nervous horses or something similar?
So could I now get fined over this?? If he goes and complains to the police?! (I did explain I was new to towing)
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Please don't lose any sleep over this. You will be fine, the chap who pulled in in front of you was in the wrong, though I can imagine his frustration and I can tell by your responses that you can too and that you are not an ignorant or inconsiderate road user. Please don't let this incident put you off.
I'm a nervous wreck when ours are travelling and don't think I would ever dare tow a trailer on my own - so you are far braver than me!

If you are just travelling shortish distances at the moment would it be worth driving the route in your car without the trailer hitched first so that you spot anywhere you can pull in if you need to? I don't blame you at all for sticking to 40 - I've stood in the back of a trailer with a horse and they do get a bit of a rough ride in there compared to a horse box.
Good Luck and keep going!
 
What a nob this bloke is!
Lets face it , it is frustrating when there a slow mover who won t pull over with a massive queue behind them, but thats all it is, frustrating.
To actually force you to stop and get out of his car and verbally abuse you suggests he has problems .
I think this is much more his problem than yours op, just carry on with your driving and thank your lucky stars its not you he is going home to!
 
I would not have waited whilst he directed traffic around you. I'd have pulled out around him and he would either have moved, or not.
 
Thanks for your support and kind messages it really does means a lot xx

I am going to get some wide mirrors - trailer is same width as car but this will help with visibility. Also stickers on back and maybe one of those dash cams. Next trip planned is only 5 miles away so I'll see how I get on with that.
 
If the guy that stopped you did report it to the police he would find himself in very hot water. He had no legal right to stop you and no legal right to direct traffic around you once stopped.
My first response, had I been in your position would have been to phone the police. He was breaking the law.
 
Please don't let this get to you. You haven't done anything wrong, although it might have been polite to pull in somewhere if it was possible. You'll be aware of this next time so lesson learned and move onwards and upwards. You'll get faster as you get more experienced and confident. I've been towing for over 15 years and have never come across anything like this or even heard about anything similar before so it is very rare, you were just very unlucky to come across such a tool early on in your towing career.
 
Cheekywelshie, please whatever you do never be tempted to drive faster to ease the traffic behind you. A 10 mph difference in speed won't get anybody behind to their destination with any great difference in time, but it will definitely put you through the hedge going into a bend too fast.

If there were no lay-bys that you could easily pull into, then you did exactly the right thing, just keep going. It is this guy that was completely in the wrong, not you. If you were a burly farmer driving a tractor this guy wouldn't have pulled you over and abused you.

The advice so far is generally good. Use your mirrors, stop when safe, but drive smoothly and safety at a speed you (and your horse) are comfortable with. The speed limits are a maximum, not a target. I am afraid that we all need to live with the fact there are some extremely poor drivers out there, who don't give two hoots about anyone else. I would also add that this is a very unusual event, so don't think that this would happen every time you go out towing.

When I tow there are a coupe of corners and a roundabout near here that are off-camber and uphill. I creep around them at 10mph, everybody behind just has to wait.
 
OP, that must have been horrible. The vast majority of drivers don't know what its like to tow at all, let alone with livestock on board. It's one reason I gave up a trailer-because I was fed up with people cutting me up etc. Don't be tempted to drive in such a way that you aren't confident to-just take it as a lesson and try and pull in if you get a build up behind you-but also remember you have a right to be there.
 
I've been towing for years and I go at the speed suitable for the road conditions and the horse inside. I am always conscious of other road users but my first consideration is always for the horse on board.

This man is not the police. He has no right to stop you & behave this way. If you have his reg number report him. If not, put it down to experience and remember he probably has a very small penis !! ��
 
What an idiot, I would have taken a photograph of him with your phone and his reg plate then reported him from threatening behaviour. He is not allowed to grind to a halt in front of you, stop you moving and direct traffic.

It really depends on the road, you are limited to 10mph under the limit so if its 60mph then I'd generally do 50mph on the straight bits, obviously slowing for corners and really depends how tight they are. I do try to not hang around too much on the bigger roads as people do get peed off and you risk idiots overtaking you in dangerous places. On my narrow country road though I do max 40mph as its twisty. I would tend to pull over where safely possible and do keep an eye on how much traffic is behind.

Just ignore this guy, but yeah try to keep an eye on traffic behind you and if you are going particularily slowly then do try to let them past when you can safely. To be fair, often tractor drivers are the worst in my area - they can have a massive que behind them and pass every single layby!
 
MagicMelon said:
To be fair, often tractor drivers are the worst in my area - they can have a massive que behind them and pass every single layby!
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Yes, and I wonder how many of them have been forced to stop and been ranted at? I know a guy who drives tractors and combines, he's a nutcase.... and massive. If anybody tried to stop him I am convinced he'd just drive over their car, and if they weren't dead he'd finish them off with his hands.

(Although to give him some credit he is extremely respectful of horses, he often stops and turn his engine off until they pass)
 
Darbs said:
Yes, and I wonder how many of them have been forced to stop and been ranted at? I know a guy who drives tractors and combines, he's a nutcase.... and massive. If anybody tried to stop him I am convinced he'd just drive over their car, and if they weren't dead he'd finish them off with his hands.

(Although to give him some credit he is extremely respectful of horses, he often stops and turn his engine off until they pass)
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Nothing like a sweeping generalisation on this forum. Agricultural operators can and do get prosecuted for slowing down the flow of traffic and failing to pull over. Tractors are limited, and rightly so, they are big bits of kit around here, we no more want to be on the road with a combine than you want to be stuck behind us, but it is harvest time in England, people like food and bedding for their horses etc.

Personally, I am happier to be sat behind a tractor limited to 26mph than I am to be stuck behind a trailer doing the same speed because the driver is new to towing and not confident to drive the vehicle at a speed appropriate to the road conditions.
 
RunToEarth said:
Nothing like a sweeping generalisation on this forum. Agricultural operators can and do get prosecuted for slowing down the flow of traffic and failing to pull over. Tractors are limited, and rightly so, they are big bits of kit around here, we no more want to be on the road with a combine than you want to be stuck behind us, but it is harvest time in England, people like food and bedding for their horses etc.

Personally, I am happier to be sat behind a tractor limited to 26mph than I am to be stuck behind a trailer doing the same speed because the driver is new to towing and not confident to drive the vehicle at a speed appropriate to the road conditions.
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I wasn't generalising, in fact exactly the opposite. I was specifically referring to one individual and (supporting the OP) in questioning how many tractor drivers have been forced to stop and ranted at by a motorist?
 
To play Devil's Advocate, I've just come back from town. I met a woman in a small car on a single track road. I am in my Landrover with an 8x5 trailer on the back. The woman has just passed a wider bit of road, but not a lay-by, about 50 yards further down the road. Yes, she did see me coming! I passed a lay-by at least 150 yards behind me. We sit glaring at each other.

Then another car pulls up behind the woman. Then a second... You get the picture.

Woman says, "I can't back my car up". She is not physically impaired and the car is very small. She obviously does not know how to drive. I ignore her and tell the other drivers in the queue that I've a trailer. Yes, I could back up, but should I? All the car drivers behind the woman back up at least 100 yards to a decent sized lay-by and the woman sort of zig zags backwards to a wider part of the road, ending up on the wrong side almost in the fence. She's right, she can't back the car! Anyway, I manage to squeeze through and give everyone a thank you.

Sorry, OP, but if you have a driving licence and are not driving on L plates, you should be able to control your vehicle. I accept that people have to learn but what do posters on this thread think if the cars in the tail back become so exasperated that they start to over take dangerously? Yes, the driver who stopped her was out of order but he could see a rapidly deteriorating situation, took charge, and averted what could have been very dangerous. I think he did the right thing in the circumstances.

If you have charge of a large moving vehicle, it is your duty to make sure you have it under your control. Simple. I guarantee the OP will remember her experience for a very long time and make sure she does not get into that situation again, so she has profited by it. That's why Nature invented pain!

As for the woman driover, hopefully she will go home and get some practice driving her car! No sympathy from me.
 
Dry Rot said:
I accept that people have to learn but what do posters on this thread think if the cars in the tail back become so exasperated that they start to over take dangerously?
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I think in that situation the overtaking drivers should have the book thrown at them. Loss of patience is no excuse for dangerous driving.
However, I do agree that people should be competent to drive the vehicle they are in charge of from a bike to an artic.
 
Dry Rot said:
but what do posters on this thread think if the cars in the tail back become so exasperated that they start to over take dangerously?
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wouldn't be the OPs responsibility, we are all responsible for our own decisions on the road surely? I meet people who can't reverse down our single track roads all the time and its very annoying but a different issue. I don't mind personally if I get stuck behind something slower-I appreciate that most people are just trying to do their job/get to work/go about their business without wanting abuse for it. If you don't allow for that around here in your journey time then you've only got yourself to blame imo.
 
Dry Rot said:
To play Devil's Advocate, I've just come back from town. I met a woman in a small car on a single track road. I am in my Landrover with an 8x5 trailer on the back. The woman has just passed a wider bit of road, but not a lay-by, about 50 yards further down the road. Yes, she did see me coming! I passed a lay-by at least 150 yards behind me. We sit glaring at each other.

Then another car pulls up behind the woman. Then a second... You get the picture.

Woman says, "I can't back my car up". She is not physically impaired and the car is very small. She obviously does not know how to drive. I ignore her and tell the other drivers in the queue that I've a trailer. Yes, I could back up, but should I? All the car drivers behind the woman back up at least 100 yards to a decent sized lay-by and the woman sort of zig zags backwards to a wider part of the road, ending up on the wrong side almost in the fence. She's right, she can't back the car! Anyway, I manage to squeeze through and give everyone a thank you.

Sorry, OP, but if you have a driving licence and are not driving on L plates, you should be able to control your vehicle. I accept that people have to learn but what do posters on this thread think if the cars in the tail back become so exasperated that they start to over take dangerously? Yes, the driver who stopped her was out of order but he could see a rapidly deteriorating situation, took charge, and averted what could have been very dangerous. I think he did the right thing in the circumstances.

If you have charge of a large moving vehicle, it is your duty to make sure you have it under your control. Simple. I guarantee the OP will remember her experience for a very long time and make sure she does not get into that situation again, so she has profited by it. That's why Nature invented pain!

As for the woman driover, hopefully she will go home and get some practice driving her car! No sympathy from me.
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Reminds me of my first time taking the trailer out, was many years ago now, it was an old one that you had to put a pin in the hitch somewhere to stop the brakes engaging to reverse, I met a lorry on a blind bend, he was lovely and reversed it for me, I was nearly in tears! Thankfully I have improved over time.
 
There are many who tow without the need to take training so when they start out towing they are much slower and more cautious than those who have been trained or have experience

If after a few trips out they remain slow then they need to get help

As drivers we must use common sense and patience at all times but as happens so often many simply do not give a crap about others

My advice to those new to towing is to get an experienced driver to go with you for the first few times
 
Some drivers just need to chill the hell out. 40 miles an hour is a perfectly decent speed to be 'stuck' at.
 
If you are nervous OP and assuming you haven't had to take a towing test given your post get some lessons, it will make you feel a lot better. My mum found even a couple of hours out with someone made a huge difference to her.
 
minesadouble said:
I don't blame you at all for sticking to 40 - I've stood in the back of a trailer with a horse and they do get a bit of a rough ride in there compared to a horse box.
Good Luck and keep going!
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Absolutely this. Travelling in the trailer with the horse is, of course, illegal but IMHO everyone who tows should have a go. It's a real eye opener.
I used to get lifts to PC activities in rural Devon with a friend, whose dad towed us with his tractor. This left us in the trailer with the horses. It's certainly made me a very careful tower, even though I could easily wazz my current rock solid outfit round at max permitted speeds, if I was so minded.
 
I travelled in the back of the trailer with my pony as a teenager and fully understand what the horse is feeling. Years on I have towed trailers on a regular basis. My towing manners depend on where I live. I have towed in countryside where I would pull over as soon as possible to let traffic pass. In the same time I have refused to reverse when towing - nothing works better than switching off your engine and picking up a paper or book (providing your horse is ok and settled), and yes I can reverse a trailer or a lorry. I have also towed in busier areas where I always used to pull in wherever I could. However I have learnt that very rarely do I get any thanks and often I have had verbal abuse as they have passed so I no longer pull over despite the traffic behind. Only once have I had a situation like yours which was really uncomfortable but it was only the once.
 
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