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Topic: Towing With A Car. What`s The Law?

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Ludovine

25/9/2014 at 4:14pm
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Yes, thats clear enough & on a gov.uk webpage.

'A category B vehicle may be coupled with a trailer over 750kgs MAM, provided the combination does not exceed 3,500kgs MAM'

So law is as it always was & has not been changed. However the other gov.uk websites are not so clear & unfortunately anybody googling 'caravan towing law' will find the ambiguously worded gov.uk webpage at top of results so could end up breaking the law & worse in terms of potential financial cost, voiding their insurance.

But at least we have cleared it up. So good on you for taking the trouble to research it.

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Blue Sky Pennine

25/9/2014 at 4:19pm
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Thanks. No point giving advice, if the advice isn't right, or clear. (a lesson the Government would do well to take heed of! lol).

I've left the article as it is, as, technically, it's not wrong, but I've added an explanation and a couple of examples to, hopefully, clear up any confusion. Time for a lie down in a darkened room, I think.

Post last edited on 26/09/2014 01:05:38

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janus

25/9/2014 at 6:15pm
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Your website yesterday when I read it was incorrect, it is now correct.

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Bill

For a licence dated 1997 or later you must add together the plated max weight of the caravan and trailer, if the total is 3500 or less you can tow it. You may even tow a caravan with a MAM greater than the cars unladen mass the restriction was removed in 2013

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Blue Sky Pennine

25/9/2014 at 6:58pm
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Funny that, as I haven't actually changed a single word Bill, other than adding the explanatory paragraph and examples. All the rest is totally unchanged. Good to know I'm, miraculously, now right though.

Post last edited on 26/09/2014 01:04:23

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Blue Sky Pennine

26/9/2014 at 1:45am
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Just to avoid any confusion, I have added an explanation, a couple of examples, and three Highways Agency videos to the original blog post. Hopefully, that covers it pretty well.

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The one good thing about being wrong is the joy it brings to others..

Blue Sky Pennine

26/9/2014 at 10:36am
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The DVLA have come back to me, to confirm the situation, as we understand it above.

Interestingly, they also sent me a link to this document; INS57P - Information On Driving Licences which explains the position.

The ridiculous thing is, page 9 of this document reproduces the information provided on page 4 of the document INF30 - Requirements For Towing Trailers In Great Britain which I linked through to, earlier in this thread. They are supposed to be identical, and yet there are subtle differences, and only the INS57P document mentions the 3,500 MAM limit. No wonder there's so much confusion around all of this.

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Graham

26/9/2014 at 12:16pm
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BSP,
Perhaps it's worth you 'feeding' those errors back to DVLA to address
Just a thought.

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Blue Sky Pennine

26/9/2014 at 12:29pm
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Will do. Already voiced concerns to them about general inconsistencies, but, now that they have replied to my query, I have direct contact details to address specific issues, like these two conflicting leaflets.

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The one good thing about being wrong is the joy it brings to others..

Ludovine

26/9/2014 at 12:41pm
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I think the Dvla have been made aware of these ambiguities. It depends whether they do actually regard them as misleading. Nowadays there is very little 'physical' enforcement for drivers. Far less traffic police cars on main roads & few Vosa roadside checks.

Enforcement relies mostly on camera & computer records. So caravan & trailer law is difficult to enforce because in the UK(unlike many other European countries)there is no registration of caravans/trailers so they do not have their own numberplates.

Obviously Dvla registration of caravan/trailers would be unpopular & really I can't see it happening so I'm sure caravanners will continue to get away with driving outfits they are not licenced to drive.

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Freeman on the land.

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