B + E Trailer Test

robint said:

i got that on me licence too !
i fink the only thing i ant got is a forklift licence

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in the next couple of years i am going to do C, F and H


oh and forks too

Categories such as H - tracked vehicles and G - Road Roller etc have been replaced by industry specific "tickets". What gets me is that I can legally drive a tractor with forks - but not a forklift Just an excuse to screw money out of us I guess...

Got H too, wonder what we can tow with a tank?

livers said:

Got H too, wonder what we can tow with a tank?

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what ever the **** you like its a tank nobody's going to argue

livers said:

Got H too, wonder what we can tow with a tank?

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you need to do a H+E test at any approved driving test centre.Wouldnt want a pull of plod now would we

the B+E test is excatly the same layout as a class C+E artic test, it's the exact same test, only a different vehicle, so if your thinkin it's a walk in the park your going to be in for a shock, Ive done both, I done my B+E, then a year later my class C LGV, then C+E HGV, and it's a full on hour long driveing test, not just a quick whip round the block with a trailor on, and the examiner says yeah not bad here's your ticket, Im just giveing you guys thinking of going for your test a friendly warning, that although you guys are, Im sure, more than capable of towing a trailor safely, it's a good Idea to have some training to brush you up on what the examiner is going to want to see, but it just gets me that you have to go through all this to tow a trailor behind a car/landrover yet anybody can hop in a JCB fasttrack put a dollie on the back and pull a full on artic trailor loaded to the hilt, it just doesn't make sence to me

G-man said:

in the next couple of years i am going to do C, F and H


oh and forks too

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got me forks license took me test on a 12.5 tonne side stack loader once passed i automatically had counterbalance and shunter ( motorised rear fork trolley shunting truck )

also as part of the test took and passed my 5 tonne overhead gantry crane license

and since it was all done in a timber distribution warehouse got me industrial saw certificates with wood moulding machines aswell all in one day
the license you really need nowadays is the vna (verry narrow aisle) i only hold an internal license for this but its cool as fook but takes some getting used to coz your going up 30 to 40 feet with the load but run off gps within the warehouse following magnetic tracks in the floors the things basicaly drive themselves and have a radio cd player built in as standard ( £16) per hour to do this £8 per hour standard counterbalance and more work involved

paul_c said:

The trailer MAM can exceed the vehicle towing capacity, but if so you cannot fully load the trailer - it must always weigh below the max towing capacity of the vehicle. It hardly ever applies for LR though, because the heaviest trailers with overrun brakes can be, is 3500kg, which is the towing capacity of most Land Rovers.

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I understand that to be incorrect - if the vehicle is type approved to tow, for example 2000kg in the case of a Freelander, you can't tow an Ifor Williams plant trailer which has a MAM of 3500kg even if it's empty (and therefore weights about 700kg)

You are correct about other LRs handling most things though.

Ian Griffiths said:

I understand that to be incorrect - if the vehicle is type approved to tow, for example 2000kg in the case of a Freelander, you can't tow an Ifor Williams plant trailer which has a MAM of 3500kg even if it's empty (and therefore weights about 700kg)

You are correct about other LRs handling most things though.

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Have you got a link to the legislation for that then Ian? Only it's in direct contradiction to the information I was given by VOSA.

Yeah just looking for it now, is that VOSA information in postable format?

Ian Griffiths said:

Yeah just looking for it now, is that VOSA information in postable format?

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If you find it, let us all know!

If it helps, I was told it by the guy who I did my 12 ton C1+E training with.

I had a Brian James car trailer and an Ifor BV, plated at 1750kg and 3500kg respectively but both around 500kg empty, both would be illegal behind my 7.5t race truck even though I had 8250 limit and therefore 750kg "spare".

Direct.gov.uk site also states this but I can't find the reference in Road Traffic Act or similar. Although they do relate it to licensing, not the vehicle capability.

Does this link fromn the DfT help at all? It referrs to construction and use regs and EC type approval as the limiting factor - It seems that if your car isn't approved to tow a given weight then it's not allowed ??

Headtester said:

Does this link fromn the DfT help at all? It referrs to construction and use regs and EC type approval as the limiting factor - It seems that if your car isn't approved to tow a given weight then it's not allowed ??

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It confirms what most people already knew through common sense - that you can't tow a trailer loaded beyond the towing capacity of the car; or if the gross train weight is exceeded. There's no argument in that.

That page is also out of date, on width limits.

Found a bit more info on trailers here - it backs up what PaulC said about widths too

I take it that having a HGV class one license for the last 22 years allows me to tow a trailer with my 300 tdi Disco

mrsnoops said:

I take it that having a HGV class one license for the last 22 years allows me to tow a trailer with my 300 tdi Disco

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you would hope so.......


although if you saw some of the pricks that surn up in the road at my works you would wonder if they could drive a car let alone the the 40 ton wagon they are driving

just another government way to screw the good old motorist

mrsnoops said:

I take it that having a HGV class one license for the last 22 years allows me to tow a trailer with my 300 tdi Disco

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Look at your licence and check that you have B+E entitlement. You should do, because of when you took your test, but you'd need to check (DVLA make loads of admin errors, etc).

If you took a C+E test nowadays, your licence would also come back with B+E, full details see here:

How to add higher categories to your driving licence (staging and upgrading) : Directgov - Motoring

paul_c said:

Look at your licence and check that you have B+E entitlement. You should do, because of when you took your test, but you'd need to check (DVLA make loads of admin errors, etc).

If you took a C+E test nowadays, your licence would also come back with B+E, full details see here:

How to add higher categories to your driving licence (staging and upgrading) : Directgov - Motoring

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erm i think grandfathers rights might just about cover it.......