Towing a trailer - post 97 licence
Turbo Mini Forums

I need to start towing on my own soon as I intend to enter a race series next year with the mini, so wish to buy a light car trailer.

Just to clarify that I have interpreted the guidance correctly and remain legal; If the tow car weighs 1750kg, has a towing capacity of 1250kg and the total gross train weight is less then 3500kg I can tow the trailer on a catagory B licence. Does this sound about right?

direct gov guidance states the following

"a vehicle with an unladen weight of 1.25 tonnes and a MAM of 2 tonnes coupled with a trailer with a MAM of 1.25 tonnes could be driven by the holder of a category B entitlement. This is because the MAM of the combination does not exceed 3.5 tonnes and also the MAM of the trailer does not exceed the unladen weight of the drawing vehicle"

Edited by minimole23 on 5th Nov, 2010.

I was under the impression that u simply can't tow over 750kg, ie a mini on a trailer . I need to sit the proper test too,,,

turbo 16v k-series 11.9@118.9 :)

Denis O'Brien.

I thought the same till I investigated it too, it would appear that as long as you're under 3500kg you're ok.

For example I would need a trailer test to tow a 3 ton trailer behind a land rover.

I have just phoned the dvla to clarify it, and they seemed to echo what I said originally, but we all know how competant they are!

Here's a link

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/Drive...les/DG_10013073

Edited by minimole23 on 5th Nov, 2010.

You can tow a trailer weighing up to the MAM of the towing car. The total weight of car, trailer and load must not exceed 3.5 tonnes. MAM is usually about 85% of the vehicles weight.

For example, say my a4 weighs roughly 1.4 tones, so I can tow a trailer up to 1.2 tones fully loaded. Total weight 2.6 tones, so legal on my Cat B licence.

At 750KGs total weight, the trailer must be braked.

my understanding is the trailer and load cant weigh more than 750 kg, the trailer cant be braked, the weight of the trailer cant exeed the weight of the tow vehicle and the total weight of everything cant weigh more than 3.5 tons

Tom and the others are correct, the girlfriend went through this last year as she was towing her mums trailer (they have horses) and its 3500 limit combine. Over that a test is required.

Rick

Tom summarises it nicely - rememeber it is the plated weight, or MAM, of the trailer you must consider, not its actual weight at the time.

Thsi does casue some ludricous combinations - for instance you would be perfectly legal with (say) a 2000kg Mondeo pulling a fully loaded trailer of 1500kgs MAM where everything was on its limit (power, brakes, ability, size etc) but potentially couldn't drive a fully loaded Land Rover with a poxy little Halfords box trailer behind it!

But be aware of that trailer MAM - if the trailer is plated to be 2750kgs total possible weight, you couldn't tow even if empty!! And neither could someone with thte correct licence unless the towing car has a towing weight of 2750kg+
Most twin wheel car transporter trailers will be plated at an MAM of 2000kgs upwards. In reality very few vehicles are really allowed to tow these.

We going to start seeing lightened trailer parts on here now! Carbon mud guards, magnesium wheels, titanium tow hitch...........

The trouble is Jase is home brew trailers are obviously not plated. However a way around this is to mark a MAM on the trailer yourself to suit what you are towing with

Another bonus is if your car and trailer combo are less than 750kg. I have never been pulled towing the DON on the single axle trailer, but it will be fun if I ever am, as I'm confident it would be less than 750kg.

Cheers guys

The last thing I want is for the towcar/trailer/mini to be impounded and get done for being overweight and then technically uninsured!

my mate got 8 tickets in one go the other week due to trailer related offences, so wanted to be clear on it all.

i cant find it right now but when i looked as i used to tow alot you can only tow upto 750kg or half the weight of the towing veghcle unloaded.
basically if your car weighs 1000kg with no fuel oil or anything in you can tow a trailer of 500kg loaded

Yet more misinformation.

You can get 1300kg gross trailers, so a 350kg trailer with a 850kg Mini is just the job. Why do you need anything more?

just had a quick google and found this also
'B' - permits towing a trailer not exceeding 750kg MAM or a trailer with a MAM not exceeding the vehicles kerb weight and where the combined MAM (vehicle + trailer) does not exceed 3,500kg

so a B license which is what i have after passing in 2007 you are not permited to tow a trailer over 750kg

Edited by Dolly on 5th Nov, 2010.

This has been interesting to read however it all seems to be abit unclear. Some people think one thing and some think another.

I want to be able to tow a trailer for Vader but being 21 and getting my licence in 2006 I was under the impression that I'd need a towing licence to tow anything at all as said on here



My OH passed his test in 1998 and had to take an additional test to tow a trailer for work.

Edited by Pauly on 5th Nov, 2010.

Driving Licence - Vehicle categories are shown on your driving licence which confirm the types of vehicle you are authorised to drive and the size of trailer you are permitted to tow whilst driving such a vehicle. The categories that most commonly apply to individuals are :


'B' - permits towing a trailer not exceeding 750kg MAM or a trailer with a MAM not exceeding the vehicles kerb weight and where the combined MAM (vehicle + trailer) does not exceed 3,500kg


'BE' - permits towing a trailer not exceeding 3,500kg MAM


If your driving licence was first issued prior to 1st January 1997, you should find that you are licensed to tow either of the above categories. Licences issued after this date will only allow the holder to drive category 'B' unless an additional towing test is successfully completed. For more information on towing tests and training centres visit the DirectGov site.


Note that you are not allowed to tow any trailer if driving on a provisional driving licence.

taken from this website
http://www.thomastrailerhire.co.uk/1785.html

Tom, the part you have highlighted, would that be for a braked trailer specifically? So you can tow a braked trailer where the trailer, load and towing vehicle doesn't go above 3,500kg on a B licence with no additional test?

What about the word "OR"?


The 750kg is for an unbraked trailer. The "OR" and text after it refers to towing up to 3.5t train weight.

You go and google to your hearts content, I do not need google to know you are talking rubbish and clearly do not understand the towing regs.

The bottom line is that you need to find the max gross train weight for your particular tow vehicle. That is the max alowable weight of tow car, its passengers, luggage, plus the trailer and its load. From this you can deduct the max gross weight of the tow vehicle to give you the max allowable gross trailer weight

There is then the legislation that states that any un braked triler shall not excede the max gross weight of 750KG, and the max gross train weight of a tow vehicle and braked trailer shall not excede 3500kg without the propper entitlement.

Micheal Wood services on the M5 in July/ August is a good place to stop and watch those that are ignornt of these rules get their car and caravan impounded. Those people are usualy easy to spot with the nose of the car pointing to the air and the nose of the caravan pointing to the ground.

Which brings me to one thing most over look. The Nose, or hitch weight. This is normally around 75kg for the mid to large size family cars. The load of the trailer must be distributed such that the weight on the tow ball or hitch must not excede 75kg, check your vehicle, as it does differ, but of all the estate cars I have had through the years its been 75-80kg. Equally it shoulndt be a negative figure either. aim for 2/3 of this figure to ensure there is some weight pushing down on the hitch but not the max. A simple piece of wood in the hitch on a bathroom scale does the job easilly enough.

For a real example. My Vauxhall Insignia ST max gross weight is 2315kg (all up weight). The max gross weight of a braked trailer for this car is stated as 1600kg. That means there is a max gross train weight (the car, the trailer, its load, and all of its luggage, passengers) of 3915kg. As far as the documentation is concerned this is perfectly acceptable, BUT, it also means that it is above 3500kg. This means that to be able to tow without the extra entitlement with the Insignia ST, the max gross trailer weight must be plated at the most, 1175kg. I'm sure no one will argue with another 15kg for a 1200kg gross trailer.

Remember, VOSA will not care if what you have on there is bellow the allowable max gross train weight of the vehicle and below 3500kg train weight, if the plates on both the trailer and tow vehicle add up to more than the max gross train weight or 3500kg without the entitlement.

Modern lightweight vehicles are bastards for towing. They are just too light!

My brother found out the hard way