Towing legalities

Hi all, I'm after a bit of confirmation on what I can tow. I'm fairly sure after spending a ridiculous amount of time researching but I thought I'd ask myself as well..

I have a Freelander (don't hate me) with an MAM of 2000kg. As I passed my test after the 1997 law change I don't have the + e entitlement. Because of this, I believe I'm correct in saying that I can tow a braked trailer with a plated MAM no greater than 1500kg, as the two figures make 3500kg, and the trailer is less than the car.

Is this correct? I'm 96.5% sure it is..

Cheers, Ross

Yep...

If you passed your driving test after 1 January 1997 and have an ordinary category B (car) licence, you can:

• drive a vehicle up to 3,500kg MAM towing a trailer of up to 750kg MAM
• tow a trailer over 750kg MAM as long as the combined MAM of the trailer and towing vehicle is no more than 3,500kg

Thank you for confirming what I thought, Blue Beasty.

blue beasty said:

Yep...

If you passed your driving test after 1 January 1997 and have an ordinary category B (car) licence, you can:

• drive a vehicle up to 3,500kg MAM towing a trailer of up to 750kg MAM
• tow a trailer over 750kg MAM as long as the combined MAM of the trailer and towing vehicle is no more than 3,500kg

Click to expand...

Not too sure about all of that. My understanding is the unless you take a 'trailer test' (for pre '97 test passes) you are restricted to a max 750 kg trailer, regardless of the towing vehicles spec. I'm not into caravanning but know people who are & they have been effected by the ruling.
My apologies if I'm incorrect

norseman said:

Not too sure about all of that. My understanding is the unless you take a 'trailer test' (for pre '97 test passes) you are restricted to a max 750 kg trailer, regardless of the towing vehicles spec. I'm not into caravanning but know people who are & they have been effected by the ruling.
My apologies if I'm incorrect

Click to expand...

That info is straight from .gov

norseman said:

Not too sure about all of that. My understanding is the unless you take a 'trailer test' (for pre '97 test passes) you are restricted to a max 750 kg trailer, regardless of the towing vehicles spec. I'm not into caravanning but know people who are & they have been effected by the ruling.
My apologies if I'm incorrect

Click to expand...

BB is currently correct , you were until they changed it (again)

Let us please quote the source:

https://www.gov.uk/towing-with-car/driving-licence-rules-and-what-you-can-tow

14th March 2016

BUT: They also incorrectly updated another, related site where they stated that certain trailer lengths INCLUDED the A-frame, whereas in fact it should have read EXCLUDE the A-frame. That was a March 2016 update as well.

Peter

I just got a tow bar fitted to my CX-5 rather than the 90 as I want to tow a trailer and a car and the defender would put it over the 3500 limit. Bit stupid really as the defender is infinitely more capable of towing

Nice for oldies with pre-97 Grandfather Rights, and we really are Grandfathers!

Peter

blue beasty said:

Yep...

If you passed your driving test after 1 January 1997 and have an ordinary category B (car) licence, you can:

• drive a vehicle up to 3,500kg MAM towing a trailer of up to 750kg MAM
• tow a trailer over 750kg MAM as long as the combined MAM of the trailer and towing vehicle is no more than 3,500kg

Click to expand...

Yep and while it is possible to tow over 750kg MAM trailer, finding a suitable tow vehicle to make it happen can be difficult. Stupid stupid rules that end up meaning towing with 'x' vehicle is illegal, but towing the same trailer with 'y' vehicle is legal, even if vehicle 'y' is a worse tow vehicle.


Then again it's perfectly legal to jump in a tractor and tow 10+ tonnes with no additional training. And to top it all off, the trailer test doesn't even test applicants on the difference between towing a 750kg trailer and a heavier one. It assumes that you simply cannot tow anything before hand and only checks you for completely unrelated criteria.

listerdiesel said:

Nice for oldies with pre-97 Grandfather Rights, and we really are Grandfathers!

Peter

Click to expand...

+1 and I've also passed C+E so no worries

tacr2man said:

BB is currently correct , you were until they changed it (again)

Click to expand...

My apologies BB
Am I glad that at my time of life I don't have to keep abreast of all this changes

My C and CE are pending renewal with DVLA after my cardiac operation last summer, I will probably need an ECG Stress Test which DVLA will pay for apparently.

Once that is done, I get the C1 and C1E uprated to the full weights, just as if I passed the test, so quite useful.

Peter

listerdiesel said:

My C and CE are pending renewal with DVLA after my cardiac operation last summer, I will probably need an ECG Stress Test which DVLA will pay for apparently.

Once that is done, I get the C1 and C1E uprated to the full weights, just as if I passed the test, so quite useful.

Peter

Click to expand...

Let my C1 C1E lapse when i got my three year licence. Applied for it on line and to retain them you need to fill forms in and take a medical i assume. Don't need them anyway. BE is all i will ever need now.

I'm glad I spotted this as I thought 750kgs MAM was the max, will keep window shopping for Sankey trailers

I need at least the C1 + E for driving the Mercedes and towing our big trailer with it.

B+E is OK if I use the Discovery.

Peter

Hi again guys,
I've got another question / issue that I was hoping to get some confirmation on, and I thought I'd just reply to this as it has all the relevant info on about the car etc

I need to know whether it's the GVW of the freelander (2080kg) that matters for plating the trailer, or whether it's the towing capacity (2000kg)

Obviously the GVW would only allow a trailer of 1420kg MAM, whereas the towing capacity would allow the trailer to be 1500kg.

Is there anyone who can confirm which matters?
Or know who I can source the answer from?

Many thanks!

james6546 said:

I just got a tow bar fitted to my CX-5 rather than the 90 as I want to tow a trailer and a car and the defender would put it over the 3500 limit. Bit stupid really as the defender is infinitely more capable of towing

Click to expand...

What's the towing capacity of a CX-5 ?

bluedog333 said:

What's the towing capacity of a CX-5 ?

Click to expand...

I don't know what a CX5 is, but AFAIK, nothing is rated to tow over 3500kg without air brakes on the trailer.

Turboman said:

I don't know what a CX5 is, but AFAIK, nothing is rated to tow over 3500kg without air brakes on the trailer.

Click to expand...

I realise that the max is 3500, or 4000 with air brakes ( I think ? ), just out of idle curiosity I was wondering if the CX-5's capacity allowed for a laden car trailer ( and what the trailer is rated at, as that's what's counted even if it's unladen ). Purely out of curiosity, I'm not accusing anyone of anything!