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[Squidy]

been thinking of getting a caravan the last few weeks, were due another our 2nd kid in march and the tent's not going to be up to hols anymore! but now i've found out if im towing anything over 900kg i need a trailer test!!! its stupid!, the law says i can tow a 899kg trailer but if i put a bag of sand in it i need a licence to tow it back again!!!! i've been driving light trailers for years!
it would make more sense if you needed a licence to tow anything- but a weight restriction doesn't make sense.
my Old man's a HGV driver and i've been driving arctics around private yards since i was 11, a trailer's a trailer and needs the same skills if its 1/4 tonne or 44 tonne

[Gaffers]

When did you pass your test?

[pembsomega]

Sorry but that's wrong, you can tow up to a gtw of 3500kg as long as the mam of the trailer doesn't exceed the unlaiden weight of the car and the total of the car plus trailer doesn't go over 3500kg.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/DriverLicensing/CaravansTrailersCommercialVehicles/DG_10013073

So if you have a car that is 2000 kg unlaiden and a ttrailer with a mam of 1500kg you're fine.

[Andy B]

been thinking of getting a caravan the last few weeks, were due another our 2nd kid in march and the tent's not going to be up to hols anymore! but now i've found out if im towing anything over 900kg i need a trailer test!!! its stupid!, the law says i can tow a 899kg trailer but if i put a bag of sand in it i need a licence to tow it back again!!!! i've been driving light trailers for years!
it would make more sense if you needed a licence to tow anything- but a weight restriction doesn't make sense.
my Old man's a HGV driver and i've been driving arctics around private yards since i was 11, a trailer's a trailer and needs the same skills if its 1/4 tonne or 44 tonne

I'm sure it's not specifically the weight of the trailer you're concerned with, it's the combined weight that you need to watch .....  but only if you passed your test after 1997. You can tow an outfit with a total weight of up to 3500 kg
Nigel/Entwood can explain better. 

[Dishevelled Den]

I can sympathise with the general thrust of your comments S but I would suggest that it's a necessity.

Perhaps one of the experienced HGV drivers here will be able to tell us about mass, in motion, and the need for it to be treated with a degree of respect when piloting their vehicles on the public roads of today.

While the bag of sand may not make much of a difference, a common point must be found for legislation such as this - even if it appears to be misplaced and arbitary.

[david036]

There seems to be some confusion here, if i've read the other posts correctly!!!
If you passed your rest before jan 1st 1997 you don't need a trailer licence!  Check the back of your picture driving licence!!
After this date you can tow a trailer upto 750kg's without a licence.  After this weight you then need a licence, and can then tow upto the car limits.

[Andy B]

......  After this weight you then need a licence, and can then tow upto the car limits.

depending on the weight of the tow car & the trailer/caravan you're pulling ..... see pembsomega's link

[Kevin Wood]

I'm sure it's not specifically the weight of the trailer you're concerned with, it's the combined weight that you need to watch .....  but only if you passed your test after 1997. You can tow an outfit with a total weight of up to 3500 kg
Nigel/Entwood can explain better. 

It's the MAM of the vehicle plus the MAM of the trailer that must be under 3500 kg. Doesn't even matter if both are unladen.

I can't recall what the MAM of an Omega is. Must be well over 2 tonnes to start with, so it restricts your choice of trailer straight away.

It's a stupid bit of legislation. It catches out a lot of younger glider pilots, and has the effect that they look for tow cars with a low MAM so they fit within the 3.5 tonne limit when towing a glider. Bizarrely, towing a 900kg MAM trailer with a vehicle of 900kg unladen weight is legal whilst towing it with a 2000kg unladen vehicle is not? I know which would be more stable.

In reality, of course, (which is as place alien to the desk jockeys who make legislation) the heavier the towing vehicle the safer the combination, so the MAM of the towing vehicle shouldn't have come into it.

Kevin

[pembsomega]

Like All legislation it's all perfectly straight forward   

[Chris_H]

I'm sure it's not specifically the weight of the trailer you're concerned with, it's the combined weight that you need to watch .....  but only if you passed your test after 1997. You can tow an outfit with a total weight of up to 3500 kg
Nigel/Entwood can explain better. 

It's the MAM of the vehicle plus the MAM of the trailer that must be under 3500 kg. Doesn't even matter if both are unladen.

I can't recall what the MAM of an Omega is. Must be well over 2 tonnes to start with, so it restricts your choice of trailer straight away.

It's a stupid bit of legislation. It catches out a lot of younger glider pilots, and has the effect that they look for tow cars with a low MAM so they fit within the 3.5 tonne limit when towing a glider. Bizarrely, towing a 900kg MAM trailer with a vehicle of 900kg unladen weight is legal whilst towing it with a 2000kg unladen vehicle is not? I know which would be more stable.

In reality, of course, (which is as place alien to the desk jockeys who make legislation) the heavier the towing vehicle the safer the combination, so the MAM of the towing vehicle shouldn't have come into it.

Kevin

Kevin

Presumably that makes it more easy to control.  The other side of the coin is how much damage gets done if you DO lose control?

Only trying to find some rationale.

[Mr Skrunts]

Sadly not all people have the same driving ability.  One of my mates supervises on the Motorway maintaince on the accident recovery side.  I hear about a lot of accidents includibg spillages, rolled HGV's, crazy motorbike accidents, suicide jumpers, head on collisions and carvan carnage.

Despite knowing your own drving ability you are not the only one on the road, and yes you might sit on the M1 towing a van at 80mph and be 100% stable and come on here and comment about it, but it only tales 1 car to move in front of you for you to take normal avoidance forgetting there is a van attached to you and it could be catnage.

Accidents are caused for many many reasons, and there is allways something at fault.  Sadly carvans make a fair percentage of this, and for that reason I agree with any rules/laws they impose.

[Andy B]

.... .....
forgetting there is a van attached to you and it could be catnage.

as easily as my Omega tows my caravan at sensible speeds I can say I've never forgotten I've a caravan on the back.     

Accidents are caused for many many reasons, and there is allways something at fault.  Sadly carvans make a fair percentage of this, and for that reason I agree with any rules/laws they impose.

Only if there's some proper thought process used when they implement them. As Kevin says, how can you be safer towing weight for weight at 1749kg each,  compared to towing a 751kg trailer with a 3  tonne car?

[Psychoca]

If you do decide to go along the trailer test route and as has been said, you have to watch your total weight, it is essentially based around the Cat C&E lorry test...

Reverse + Hitch
Reverse in a S pattern to a loading bay (with 1 allowable Shunt)
then drive around your local test centre town for an hour or so, abiding by road laws... 

Oh the trailer concerned has to be iirc 750kg box trailer, your car has to be fully road worthy, showing no warning lights (including airbag light)....

I agree, it is in some aspects a stupid test, but, as your vehicle gets heavier, the handling characteristics are altered (I knew someone who had their Omega written off when the brakes failed on a trailer, lifted the back end of the car and pushed them into the back of another car)...

[Psychoca]

.... .....
forgetting there is a van attached to you and it could be catnage.

as easily as my Omega tows my caravan at sensible speeds I can say I've never forgotten I've a caravan on the back.     

Accidents are caused for many many reasons, and there is allways something at fault.  Sadly carvans make a fair percentage of this, and for that reason I agree with any rules/laws they impose.

Only if there's some proper thought process used when they implement them. As Kevin says, how can you be safer towing weight for weight at 1749kg each,  compared to towing a 751kg trailer with a 3  tonne car?

remembering that 1749kg is the cars unladen weight, and the 3500kg limit is the gross laden weight...

15 Stone person is approxiamtely 100kg...

[Andy B]

....
remembering that 1749kg is the cars unladen weight, and the 3500kg limit is the gross laden weight...

...

but you get the gist of what I mean though .......