Transport options - lorry vs trailer with small child???

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horsemad32

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So - I have a post 1997 licence, hubbie is a little older so was pre-1997. Current 7.5T lorry has no seatbelts or anywhere to put a car seat for baby when he/she comes (plus only 3 seats, so hubby, me, friend... where to put baby?!!).

So we thought about changing over to a trailer. Current largeish car has a kerbweight of 1500kg and a braked towing capacity of 1800kg. Whilst I'd never tow anything that weighed more than the vehicle I was towing with on principle, the car could in theory tow a 750kg trailer plus one 500kg horse. Now as that'd be about 85% of the car's kerbweight, and less than 3.5T in total, I could use that as practice time on the roads before taking my B+E test, couldn't I? Or failing that, just drive the trailer around empty to practice! There's ample space at the yard to work on learning to park/reverse etc off-road. The idea is then to get a disco/shogun/terrano so we could tow two horses safely. There'd then be back seats for baby, and an extra car available if our main car broke down/was in for service, mot etc.

Is this silly? Should we try to look for a lorry that'd have more seats with seatbelts available and I just take my lorry test? What do other people do who have small children?
 
horsemad32 said:
So - I have a post 1997 licence, hubbie is a little older so was pre-1997. Current 7.5T lorry has no seatbelts or anywhere to put a car seat for baby when he/she comes (plus only 3 seats, so hubby, me, friend... where to put baby?!!).

So we thought about changing over to a trailer. Current largeish car has a kerbweight of 1500kg and a braked towing capacity of 1800kg. Whilst I'd never tow anything that weighed more than the vehicle I was towing with on principle, the car could in theory tow a 750kg trailer plus one 500kg horse. Now as that'd be about 85% of the car's kerbweight, and less than 3.5T in total, I could use that as practice time on the roads before taking my B+E test, couldn't I? Or failing that, just drive the trailer around empty to practice! There's ample space at the yard to work on learning to park/reverse etc off-road. The idea is then to get a disco/shogun/terrano so we could tow two horses safely. There'd then be back seats for baby, and an extra car available if our main car broke down/was in for service, mot etc.

Is this silly? Should we try to look for a lorry that'd have more seats with seatbelts available and I just take my lorry test? What do other people do who have small children?
Click to expand...
A lorry with more than 3 seats - I've never seen one!!
Unless you have one specially built - loadsa money :eek:

Forget about the 85% as that is for caravans

I need to know more about the car so I can REALLY help you out because I think you can do this set up on a B (not B+E) licence

I'll make up some figures and then you can get back to me to see if they are what you actually have

CAR
Unladen/kerb = 1500
GVW = 2000
Towing capacity = 1800

TRAILER (one horse weighing 500)
Unladen = 800
MAM = 1500
LOAD capacity = 700

All that would be legal for towing on a B licence
 
Wasn't there an article in Horse and Hound last week about seat belts in lorries? It's an interesting question because horse lorries more often than not don't have seat belts although you could have some fitted - is that an option? Friend would have to walk though!

However not sure about the rules - I think the article said that anyone under 12 couldn't travel in the front anyway - I will go dig it out!

If your horse/s don't mind a trailer then that would make sense, and practising around the yard is a great idea. Also you save on plating costs and the hassle of maintaining a lorry which sits around depreciating and rusting for most of the year :)

However at a show a lorry is invaluable - somewhere to change nappies, feed baby, put all the stuff etc. So it does depend on how long you are likely to be at a show. If you do something where you are there all day like eventing, I would in the long term plump for a lorry. As babies get older, they can play and more easily be kept amused in a lorry.

That's probably not helped at all!

I
 
As Hubby has a full B+E ....

All B licence holders have a B+E provisional on the paper part of their licence

That means they can tow a B+E combination either loaded or empty and on a motorway providing they adhere to these rules:-
Supervising driver must be age 21+ and held B+E for 3+ years
L plates on front of vehicle and rear of trailer
Correct insurance for B+E learner - check with current insurer

=================================================================
The B+E test
No medical or theory test required
Read a number plate from a certain distance
VIDEO - Show Me Tell Me Questions - usually 5
The next three can be in any order:-
VIDEO - Reversing Exercise (old measurements) - done in test centre grounds if test conducted from practical test centre - some tests are now being done from training school grounds
VIDEO - Uncouple/couple up - done in test centre grounds if test conducted from practical test centre - some tests are now being done from training school grounds
One hour road drive - includes the independant drive and is done virtually the same as the basic car test
 
We've a vintage lorry we used to take to rallies etc when daughter was younger. As it was built in 1955, it doesn't have seat belts at all, and OH simply attached the points on the floor onto which he ran proper lorry straps through the car seat attachemnt points so it was secured firmly in place (you couldn't budge it, it was more secure than in the car with a car seat belt). I'm sure you could add proper anchorage points for a seat belt so as to secure a car seat into the living area - it's a bug bear of OH when he sees a load of kids wandering about in the living of a horse lorry when they arrive at a show.
 
When we had a lorry I had some discussions with the insurers and the DVLA regarding who/how many people we could carry.

The gist was that so long as there was a reinforced wall between the horses and the living, then people could travel in the living so long as they each had a seat.

The cab was cut through to the living area, so it worked nicely in that, so long as the payload allowed, we could take more than three people.

If we had kept the lorry, we were going to have seatbelts fitted to the cab seats and the bench seats in the living area. I can't remember what the cost would have been, but it certainly wasn't prohibitive.

I've always liked having a lorry when there are children involved. It gives a good space for them to play, stay warm/cool, lie down, etc.
 
ROG said:
I'll make up some figures and then you can get back to me to see if they are what you actually have

CAR
Unladen/kerb = 1500
GVW = 2000
Towing capacity = 1800

TRAILER (one horse weighing 500)
Unladen = 800
MAM = 1500
LOAD capacity = 700

All that would be legal for towing on a B licence
Click to expand...

Roughly right:
CAR:
kerbweight 1505kg, Gross weight 2005kg, Tow capacity 1800kg.
TRAILER:
Unladen 750-800kg, MAM 1600-2000kg (oops, do you still have to get the plate changed? Can you change it back again when you've passed the test?) + horse 500kg.

So basically I'd need whatever trailer's MAM plate changed - even a single ifor has a MAM of 1600kg. If we got a 2-horse, would then need to change it back after the test so I could carry the original MAM and thus two horses when we get the bigger car.

With the new rules on the gov website it suggests MAM no longer matters, but then there's this page: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/DriverLicensing/CaravansTrailersCommercialVehicles/DG_10013073 so I guess it does.
 
Last edited:
horsemad32 said:
Roughly right:
CAR:
kerbweight 1505kg, Gross weight 2005kg, Tow capacity 1800kg.
TRAILER:
Unladen 750-800kg, MAM 1600-2000kg (oops, do you still have to get the plate changed? Can you change it back again when you've passed the test?) + horse 500kg.

So basically I'd need whatever trailer's MAM plate changed - even a single ifor has a MAM of 1600kg. If we got a 2-horse, would then need to change it back after the test so I could carry the original MAM and thus two horses when we get the bigger car.

With the new rules on the gov website it suggests MAM no longer matters, but then there's this page: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/DriverLicensing/CaravansTrailersCommercialVehicles/DG_10013073 so I guess it does.
Click to expand...
That new drivers thing is just a rough not thought out thing from the DVLA and should not be taken seriously

If the manufacturer of a trailer is still in business then a trailer can be downplated or re-uplated

CAR:
kerbweight 1505k
Gross weight 2005kg
Tow capacity 1800kg.
TRAILER:
Unladen 750-800k,
MAM 1600-2000kg

horse 500kg.

Max trailer MAM for B licence towing would be 1495
At 1495 that would leave a max load/horse of 695 if we took the 800 as unladen

Personally I would go for 1450 or 1400 as a downplate - the 1400 would leave a 600 load/horse
 
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