Towing limit 750kg ??

[lanason]

A haulage contractor told my Dad that a new limit is being set for towing a car on a trailer of 750kg with out a special licence. He is in the industry so he should know. does anyone know of any new laws regarding towing.
Basically am I going to have a problem towing my 2000kg boat ??

Adrian

Don't call me "Sandra"
Cleopatra - yellow hull called Court Jester. Have you seen her ?

 

[mtb]

Go take a look at Indespension phone 0800720720 they produce a nice book which has all the legal stuff in as well as every thing else . The book costs £2.00 or £3.00 posted .
The maximum load for none braked trailers is 750kg or not more than half the kerb weight of the towing vehicle
Braked with the over run principle is 3500 kg or if manufactured pre March 1977 then 3560 kg
Bear in mind because of poxy EC regs your supposed to have a tackograph fitted if you travel more than 50 km ,Bollocks int it !! every police officer that has stopped me has a different interpretation so again !!!
Oh this all changes if the towing vehicle has a gross weight exceeding 3500 kg then different rules re length of trailer and so on and so forth .Still Bollocks though.
Mick
Mick

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/boats
I want a big steel ex trawler / tug v / cheap or swap for tug

 

[BarryH]

I though the tacho bit only came into force if you were towing with a van type car, Something like a escort, transit or a van bodied defender or such like. I tow with a Range Rover, towing capacities in the towing guides state 3500kg with oner run brakes, or nearly 7000kg with a drawbar type trailer with air brakes.

Still the laws an ass, and half the plod dont know what their talking about any way, I got stopped in my younger days driving an old ford pop running a blown V8. The copper pointed to the bug scoop and asked what it was and why did it whine!!

 

[Guest]

Pretty sure you are right about the taco bit, it just applies to commercial operators.

There used to be a clause that allowed commercials to tow without a taco if they ran on LPG- dont know if it still applies.

 

[Guest]

Depends what you are towing with. 2000kg boat on a trailer with gear probably weighs 3000kg total you need a biggish 4x4 to tow this weight- Land/Range Rover, Trooper or Four track etc.

I bought my current boat to be (just) trailable and at Total of 3495kg behind a Disco it is legal.

 

[sjnewport]

yes you are right about the limit of 750kg for newish driver,they have to take a driving tow test ,and the taco is buisness use not private.
i found all this out on many web searches to find out what i could tow,
still abit unsure now,as you are only supost to tow,3/4 or 80% of the kerb side weight or gross weight of car (as my cay manual gives two diffrent values)so which is right i,m not sure still looking,and to confuse even more i have come up with something called a train weight which is suppost to be on a plate on the car somewhere, which i must not exseed,

steve

 

[mtb]

You wont have a plate on your car with train weight because its not a 3500 kg van or other light commercial .
Gross train weight is the two combined but if you consider the implication !!!.
I used to run a mrk 1 Transit that meant I could tow to the limit !!! stuff that any more than a ton on the back forget it .
I had uprated every thing on the Transit even the engine and box , 25 di suspension 190 spec .
My Landrover 110 can tow according to the plate 2.5 tons it can do that no problem. Mind you the engine is a Mazda 3.5 td ha ha the cabin cruiser can go at 60 knots ish LOL legal limit of course !!
Mick

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/boats
I want a big steel ex trawler / tug v / cheap or swap for tug

 

[mtb]

Re:Another point

Another point I had an American caravan last year it was 21ft long
Electric brakes , All the years I've towed stuff nothing ever came close to the breaking efficiency of that .
It had two systems one on the caravan the other in the Landrover ( got the pair together) any way the internal one worked off the brake peddle light switch it also had an adjuster to increase or lower the breaking force .Last a dead man emergency switch if you hit it the brakes went on hard .
The one in the caravan worked just the same as a seat belt ,inertia principle.

This as I found out after I had sold it was not road legal in the UK what a crock over run brakes would never compete with the electrical type .
America Australia New Zealand all those places it seems you can only buy trailers with the electric brakes.
I imagine quite a few are in the uk as boat trailer packages imported from the US.
Mick

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/boats
I want a big steel ex trawler / tug v / cheap or swap for tug

 

[neale]

Newly qualified drivers can (and have for a number of years) not been allowed to tow a trailer without taking a separate towing test. The 750kg limit is for unbraked trailers. Over 750kg trailers have to be braked. You are legally allowed to tow up to the manufacturers declared tow weight. The 80% of kerbweight rule is a recomendation only and is considered best for stress free towing.

Any new rule about not towing over 750kg would mean no more car trailers, all large caravans would become static and we would all have to buy 14ft speedboats.