Towing Weights and Regulations

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LiveryList

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I am one of the younger drivers who missed out on the ability to tow a trailer as an inclusion on my licence as i passed it too late :( but am now looking to get a trailer for next year and want to see if towing is a possibility without having a licence.

I know the weight allowance of car, trailer, tack, passengers etc is 3.5 tonne for which you need to have the test and inclusion on your licence in order to tow. So in theory if all of above was under 3.5 tonne in total am i able to tow on my standard car licence without having to take my trailer test?

I would be looking at getting a lightweight trailer, probably a Rice Europa or similar which (i think our old one did anyway) weigh around 800kg, to tow my mare who is a lightweight 15.2h-ish TB so probably not much more than 500kg, a car as light as i can find (my husband reckons around 1500kg would be about right) which, with an allowance of 200kg for occupants (usually only me) and tack is still only 3000kg!

Sorry for the waffle but it is so expensive to get the test (£1200 at our local place for a 5-day intensive course) and i can tow absolutely fine its just the rules seem a bit hazy and obviously if i can tow without that makes life alot easier...


:) :) :)
 
Right, it is possible, that's what you need:
car MAM + trailer MAM cannot exceed 3.5t
the trailer MAM cannot exceed the car's kerbweight (unladen weight).
I have a combo of Nissan X-Trail (MAM 2010kg, unladen 1505kg) and an old aluminium Rice trailer without a plate (this could be replaced with any trailer with MAM up to 1.5t)
MAM - maximum allowable mass.
I also tow a lightweight 2 cattle Bateson trailer with MAM of 1450 kg, but not for horse purposes, obviously :)
As my Rice trailer is old enough not to have ever had a plate, its real weight laden is taken into consideration, I only ever take one horse, the trailer weighs 700kg, my heaviest horse weighs just under 700kg, so I can still hang a haynet in there :D
 
i have only heard of one combination that is legal, a single ifor that has been downplated and a freelander, and that was only just legal!

its very tricky! its not all you unladen weights added together its your gross weights. so for example.
My trailer has a gross weight of 1200 and my disco has a gross weight of 2270, added together the combo is 3470 leaving 30kg for my horse... not going to happen haha!

eta- if it were possible, people wouldnt be forced to spend £££'s taking there test, me included!
 
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Am i being dim but what is the determined as a 'gross weight'- surely unladen weight is a gross weight or what else is being included within gross weight- people and horses but surely this differs each time? :s

MAM between car and trailer is what always stumps me but i am sure the first reply (sorry cant see post to give you recognition) is roughly what i have seen before!
 
your gross weight is the maximum your car can weigh, it will be in your specs in your handbook or on a plate on the car somewhere.
As an example, the gross weight of my disco is 2270 off the top of my head and the unladen weight with a full tank of fuel and one 70kg passenger is 1470 (guessing! i cant remember exactly) This is taken from my handbook with the vehichle.

youd think it would be the unladen weights together but annoyingly not (otherwise i wouldnt have done my test ;-)
 
Regardless of laden weights and the vehicle the max you can tow without a b+e licence is 750kg! Don't be tight and risk the embarrassment of being pulled and the points and the money just go and get the licence!! I've got the lot artic and pcv licence too and it winds me up when people want be tight and transport their horses illegally!!
 
So why is all over all the horse magazines pushing for people to tow legally. Good luck finding a suitable vehicle to tow the flimbsy trailer then I'd you think the whole outfits got to be under 3.5t!!! Baring in mind the vehicle had to weigh more than the trailer and load to be legal! And £1200 to do a 5 day course??? Ripped off springs to mind it didn't cost me that to a 4 day artic licence!!! Or if your so confident why have lessons anyway just book the test yourself
 
Not a problem for me Gill, I am old enough to tow. But it is there in black and white on Directgov that someone with a post '97 licence can tow trailers weighing more than 750kg.
 
To be honest i learnt to tow and took my test including hire of car and trailer for just under £500.

It really pee's me off no end when people try to get around the test, IMO it's not even a hard test. I'd rather pay £500 and know damn well i'm legal than trying to chance it and potentially put the safety of my horse at risk.
 
Burness21 couldn't agree more!! But hey if these lot wanna buy cheap flimbsy clapped out lightweight old trailers to try and be legal get on with it!!! Just don't expect sympathy when it goes wrong and you start bleating on how you wish you had just done the test!!! You likely don't think much of your horse is all I can say and wayhay just what us professional law abiding drivers need another idiot trailer tower without a clue!!! I drive up and down the country all week and you wouldn't believe the sights I see!!
 
gill84 said:
Burness21 couldn't agree more!! But hey if these lot wanna buy cheap flimbsy clapped out lightweight old trailers to try and be legal get on with it!!! Just don't expect sympathy when it goes wrong and you start bleating on how you wish you had just done the test!!! You likely don't think much of your horse is all I can say and wayhay just what us professional law abiding drivers need another idiot trailer tower without a clue!!! I drive up and down the country all week and you wouldn't believe the sights I see!!
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Yes totaly agree.... sadly it seems people will do anything not to take another test !!!! I dont remember the driving test being that trumatic but hey maybe it is now ....
 
perfect11s said:
Yes totaly agree.... sadly it seems people will do anything not to take another test !!!! I dont remember the driving test being that trumatic but hey maybe it is now ....
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Iv said it before and il say it again, the test is a load of b*ll*x!! In the respect of how nit picky the are, they slate you for the most minor of things! as long as you are safe thats all that matters surely! I paid £540 for 3 days and the test on the 3rd day. The things you fail for are utterly ridiculous! i know you are classed as a proffesional driver but its utterly ridiculous! I very nearly failed on the silliest thing but i had the examiner in a good mood! and that brings me to another point! the examiners make there own rules! And my examiner was extremely rude! would not look at me when speaking to me but face the other direction so all i could hear was mumbling! Called me the wrong name all the time! He clearly thought he was god! i really had to bite my tongue! And apparantly this was him in a good mood!!
I think you should just have to do compulsory hours of training and recieve some sort of certificate to show you are safe to tow etc! but thats never going to happen ;-)
 
It's MAM not actual weight, so you need to do test

If you are experienced at towing though "Trailer Training" driving school (which must be your local one too) recommend you only need the 2 day intensive course, not the 5 day. The 2 day, all in incl test is £604. (I'm saving up at the mo!)
 
gill84 said:
Burness21 couldn't agree more!! But hey if these lot wanna buy cheap flimbsy clapped out lightweight old trailers to try and be legal get on with it!!! Just don't expect sympathy when it goes wrong and you start bleating on how you wish you had just done the test!!! You likely don't think much of your horse is all I can say and wayhay just what us professional law abiding drivers need another idiot trailer tower without a clue!!! I drive up and down the country all week and you wouldn't believe the sights I see!!
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And what about the many more people out there who can legally tow without any training at all? Some of the worst driving I see is by old codgers! It's just unfair on young people.
 
Poor you china sounds like you had it tough! Doesn't make you feel as ease when the examiner is a prat like that! Some of them are just out to fail! When I did my class 2 hgv you have to reverse through an s bend into a parkin bay and literally brushed the cone not hit it and that's it failed before you even get out on the road!! I don't agree that it's only us after 97 passers that have to do it coz yeah there are far too many idiots out there. I see it all the time in my job caravans on there sides or tanking up the outside lane well over the speed limit with the trailers bouncing behind!! It's probably the idiots like them that causedthr need for the test in the 1st place! I have both my artic and coach licence and I have to go to the extra expense of doing a driver CPC course and pass to drive them!! So these people who tow trailers illegally and without the skills needed deserve what they get!! Don't be so tight and risk yourself your horse and other road users!!!
 
gill84 said:
Poor you china sounds like you had it tough! Doesn't make you feel as ease when the examiner is a prat like that! Some of them are just out to fail! When I did my class 2 hgv you have to reverse through an s bend into a parkin bay and literally brushed the cone not hit it and that's it failed before you even get out on the road!! I don't agree that it's only us after 97 passers that have to do it coz yeah there are far too many idiots out there. I see it all the time in my job caravans on there sides or tanking up the outside lane well over the speed limit with the trailers bouncing behind!! It's probably the idiots like them that causedthr need for the test in the 1st place! I have both my artic and coach licence and I have to go to the extra expense of doing a driver CPC course and pass to drive them!! So these people who tow trailers illegally and without the skills needed deserve what they get!! Don't be so tight and risk yourself your horse and other road users!!!
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Yes amazing how many trailers you see in the outside lane even horse trailers!!!!! and never a copper about to give them the points and the amount of cars and vans on these tempoary A frames dangerous and not legal apart from the braked ones for motorhomes or for a recovery .....
 
martlin said:
Perfect11s is right, as usual, with one exception: if you don't have B+E cat on your licence, the MAM of the trailer does matter :) unless the trailer is old enough not to have a plate on it, then the actual weight matters :D
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No plate then the tyre weight rating is the one to go by not the actual weight
 
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