towing a trailer, licence restrictions?? HELP??

[Bean5]

hi guys, i have had my driving licence since may 2006. and i was under the impression that i could tow a small trailer/caravan, with a combined (vehicle+trailer) weight of 3500 tonne without doing an extra test, but now a bloke at work says that is wrong??.

can any one clear this up for me as i am looking at getting a motor bike trailer so i can get a trials bike. and want to be legit!

 

[enoliver]

Hi,
Most people have a thing called "grandfather rights" which entitles them to have towing rights conferred to them, and this will be shown on your license. a bike license is Category A. A car license is Category B. This category also permits a trailer with a maximum gross mass not exceeding 750 Kg. but a combined mass (car and trailer) not exceeding 3500Kg. The trailer, fully loaded must not exceed the mass of the car. For cars which weigh over 3500Kg, towing a trailer, you must have the Category B+E, which is no longer added to a license without specifically asking DVLA to confer the grandfather rights.

Example of category B with a trailer weighing over 750 kg: Motor vehicle with an unladen weight of 1,500 kg and a maximum weight of 2,000 kg towing a fully loaded trailer with a weight of 1,500 kg – total weight 3500.
Example of category B+E: Motor vehicle with a MAM up to 3,500 kg towing a trailer of any weight over 750 kg.

Hope this clears it up for you. The DVLA web site will answer any other questions you may have.

 

[Ste_Nova]

this covers it all, work out the figures and post them so we can see if it works.....

if you get the right car you can legaly tow a single horse box!!!!

 

[Bean5]

im not 100% what MY MAM of my a4 b6 saloon is tbh, i think im ok with a motorbike trailer.

 

[sportstractor]

You should be ok with a bike trailer, it is quite restricted though. I passed in 2005, and was always told I couldn't tow any more than 750kgs (gross). Best to be legit with it, the restrictions have been in for a while now so they aren't just letting people off with a caution anymore!

 

[knoxie]

right i know a small amount about this due to work and being pulled by the rozzers, if you do not have the licence to tow you can only tow something up to a certain weight ( sorry i cant remember weight ) the police use a general rule of if the trailer has brakes u need a licence, i get pulled due to me not having the licence and my chipper having brakes but they never seem to do me after checking the weight of it, my manager has told me that its only just under the limit

il try and get hold of him to see what the weight is

 

[knoxie]

damn i didnt read properly, sportstrackter has it right

 

[Ste_Nova]

here we go... this is the calulation using my old passat (the ideal towcar as you will see )

my passat has an unladen weight of 1.586t

add a 1.4t mam trailer which is less than the unladen cars weight

the car has a mam of 1.950t

makes a mam total of 3.35t so thats under 3.5t

so thats all good to go for an after 97 licence

to add to that vw spec a 1.5t tow limit for the car

also the 1.4t mam trailer weighs 350kgs empty so thats 1050kgs of load that can go on it a 106gti is 950kgs

1.4mam car trailer is the ifor williams ct115

how if you saw a couple of 17yo girls towing that ^^^ and you were the police would you pull them and ask?