roobyloo2
New User
Just wondering, are you allowed to travel with passengers in the living area of a horsebox?
Have tried googling but no joy! Thanks
Have tried googling but no joy! Thanks
Passengers in Horsebox...
- Thread starter roobyloo2
- Start date
Hannah92
Well-Known Member
We do - on the bench seat
Our friends have had seatbelts fitted along the bench seats too.
Our friends have had seatbelts fitted along the bench seats too.
Izzwizz
Well-Known Member
Yes we do but you have to watch the total weight you carry and take any passengers into account.
roobyloo2
New User
Great thanks
Lap belts would probably be a good idea and not too much hassle to fit (I guess!!??)
Good point re weight, although with 7.5t lorry and only one horse I suppose you could carry a few people before it became a prolem!
Lap belts would probably be a good idea and not too much hassle to fit (I guess!!??)
Good point re weight, although with 7.5t lorry and only one horse I suppose you could carry a few people before it became a prolem!
Izzwizz
Well-Known Member
If you go to a weighbridge you can work out roughly what weight you have available to play with. Take into account water, tack etc, if you go over the limit the fine is massive so not worth guessing at. For more accuracy you could go to an MOT station and they will help you further. Thats what we did.
PeterNatt
Well-Known Member
Do not do it as it is completly illegal and the passengers in te container would not be covered by insurance as the insurance relates to the seats in the cab not anywhere else. May even invalidate the insurance on the whole vehicle.
MrsMozartletoe
Just passing through...
Check with your insurers
. We could in ours, so long as each person had a proper seat area of their own (we had bench seats), and so long as there is was a door between the horses area and the people area.
As to weight, there was a chap who had a horse box custom built - when it was finished if he'd put a Shetland pony in it would have been overweight
As to weight, there was a chap who had a horse box custom built - when it was finished if he'd put a Shetland pony in it would have been overweight
marmalade76
Well-Known Member
I thought that you could have passengers in the living as long as you have through cab.
roobyloo2
New User
Right, so probably best to check with insurers first, I've got to rip the living out and re-do it anyway so may be able to re-build it so it's safe to carry passengers, and once that's done get it weighed so we know we're legal!
Thanks all for your help
Thanks all for your help
Louby
Well-Known Member
I heard it was illegal too??? but I have done it in the past.
Shay
Well-Known Member
It is certainly illegal to travel as a passenger in a trailer even if the trailer has a living section attached. I had always understood it was completely legal to travel passengers in the living area of a horsebox as long as there is seating. Seat belts are not complusory - even in the cab - for many horseboxes, as they are not for lorries.
It seems illlogical not to be able to to be honest. I have acces to a 4 horse box and often carry freinds of my daughter's PC ponies as well as ours. I had always thought it logical - if not in fact a legal requirement - to have one competant person per animal in the case of breakdown. But I can only fit a max of 3 including the driver in the cab. That would mean if I broke down, or God forbid, had an accident I could have one animal with no-one to handle it. That seems worse to me.
But its a mad world!
It seems illlogical not to be able to to be honest. I have acces to a 4 horse box and often carry freinds of my daughter's PC ponies as well as ours. I had always thought it logical - if not in fact a legal requirement - to have one competant person per animal in the case of breakdown. But I can only fit a max of 3 including the driver in the cab. That would mean if I broke down, or God forbid, had an accident I could have one animal with no-one to handle it. That seems worse to me.
But its a mad world!
stencilface
High upon a hillside
I thought you were allowed if there was a cut through to the cab, so the cab and box bit are one entity as such. I think its illegal if there is no cut through and the horse bit and living are in a seperate enclosed container? Could be wrong though!
If the very large HGVs (6-7 horses) more often than not someone is sat in the living as if you have driver, riders and an owner or two, theres not enough room in the cab
If the very large HGVs (6-7 horses) more often than not someone is sat in the living as if you have driver, riders and an owner or two, theres not enough room in the cab
sillygillyhorse
Well-Known Member
I understood you could have passangers seated in the living area of a lorry (definitely not a trailer) and if they were seated on bench type seating that ran along the side of the lorry then seat belts were not necessary, if the seating faced the windscreen then seat belts would be required. I may be way off the mark here though.
*hic*
village idiot :D
That is exactly my understanding too. Although I suspect that in a lorry like mine, of sufficient age not to require seatbelts to be fitted in the cab, it may be ok to travel passengers facing forwards in the living without them. My lorry, however, has been designed with no forward facing seats in the living.
Edited to add. I have also checked my insurance in the past when changing from a lorry with no living to one with living as to how many passengers I could carry. The answer was "as many as there are seats for".
Edited to add. I have also checked my insurance in the past when changing from a lorry with no living to one with living as to how many passengers I could carry. The answer was "as many as there are seats for".