Trailer towing:- B and B+E licence rules explained

[Diamond Hell]

surely me and danny would be fat, whose the other 2 

Well I'd be one and Mike could well be the other. 

[ROG.]

doesn't the trailer have to be less than 75% of the weight of the tow vehicle to tow on a b licence?

No

The plated MAM of the trailer must not be more than the unladen/kerb weight of the towing vehicle

[ROG.]

Here's the normal question on here - is it legal for me to tow a car on a car trailer behind my car?

We'll use my set up as an example

VEHICLE 2004 Passat 4motion TDI
Kerb = it weighs in around 1800kg
GVW =  No idea
Towing capacity = 2000kg

(Parkers shows different figures to the handbook)

TRAILER
Unladen = 300kg
MAM = 1450kg
Load: my Golf2 which is under 1100kg

Now I'm pretty confident I'm legal as I've held my license since the early 90s and it includes the 7.5t allowance and the towing licensing as well. Would I be legal driving the above if I passed my test after the break point, where the trailer test became necessary?

The question I'm curious about is something I've seen people talking about: the axle weights on vehicles, say if I load my Passat up with four fat blokes and their luggage, what effect will that have on the towing capacity and laws associated with towing as it's easy to add several hundreds of kilos to the towing vehicle, specifically over the rear axle, with a bunch of tools in the boot.

I've seen this flagged as being a reason for buying a higher towing capacity car than you'd expect to need and as you're an expert in this area I'd be interested to hear your views.

Cheers.

OK, I assume the two bits in blue are not referring to the same thing - 

Now to the serious bit ....
You have a B+E licence so thats great
The unladen trailer and the load add up to less than the trailer MAM so thats ok
When fully loaded your trailer is still well under the towing capacity so thats not an issue
No need to worry about GVW or kerb weight for B+E licence holder towing

You're perfectly legal with that set up 

You can have a trailer up to 3500 MAM but as long as it does not actually weigh more than 2000 when loaded you will be ok

PS - I've loked through every dimension/specification site I know of for your vehicle and the specs you gave but cannot find it so could you give me any more info please

[ROG.]

The question I'm curious about is something I've seen people talking about: the axle weights on vehicles, say if I load my Passat up with four fat blokes and their luggage, what effect will that have on the towing capacity and laws associated with towing as it's easy to add several hundreds of kilos to the towing vehicle, specifically over the rear axle, with a bunch of tools in the boot.

I've seen this flagged as being a reason for buying a higher towing capacity car than you'd expect to need and as you're an expert in this area I'd be interested to hear your views.

If the vehicle is loaded without exceeding the axle weights as well as the GVW then adding the trailer will not put more weight onto the rear axle UNLESS the maximum TOWING BALL HITCH WEIGHT has been exceeded
Manufacturers take all this into account when specifying the max towing capacity as they do noot want to get sued!!

[Diamond Hell]

OK, so from the owner's manual:

GVW: 2160kg
Kerb Weight with driver: 1646kg
Gross Axle Weight front: 1080kg
Gross Axle Weight rear: 1150kg

The trailer weights in the handbook are:

Gradients up to 12% 1700kg
Gradients up to 8% 2,000kg

So talk to us about axle weights, if you would please.

It'd be really useful to know in short-form what *can't* someone who doesn't have the 'old fart's license' tow.

[danny_p]

would actualy be usefull to know what i'm allowed to tow one of these days.  but i think the whole B+E licence is a load of tosh

as far as i read it i can tow nasty littel un manuvable trailers all i like,  but usefull size trailers with something usefull on them like a car i cant and chould possobly get points and whole world of grief for doing so.    BUT  if i jump in a tractor bering in mind i'm useless at driveing them i can hook u to 20 ton of trailer and go for a drive perfectly legaly   what relly takes the piss is if i first of all hook up to a drawbar that carries a 5th wheel hitch  i can then hook up to an artic trailer  dose mean it's basicly a turntabel trailer so really nasty but i can go for a drive with that no problems as long as its under 26 ton.


the really confuseing one tho is  what's legal with the pickuptruck.    its a ford XLT450  but reisterd as a tractor  and had  air/oil brake linkup fitted  mostly for shunting trailers but what would it be legal to take down the road behind it ?

[ROG.]

OK, so from the owner's manual:

GVW: 2160kg
Kerb Weight with driver: 1646kg
Gross Axle Weight front: 1080kg
Gross Axle Weight rear: 1150kg

The trailer weights in the handbook are:

Gradients up to 12% 1700kg
Gradients up to 8% 2,000kg

So talk to us about axle weights, if you would please.

It'd be really useful to know in short-form what *can't* someone who doesn't have the 'old fart's license' tow.

Not a lot you cannot do with a B+E
Basically all you have to do is to remember not to exceed the vehicle axle weights & GVW 2160, the towing capacity 2000 (actual weight) and the trailer MAM (whatever that is for the trailer being used)
The lower weight of either towing capacity or trailer MAM must be used

You will always find that the total of the axle weights will add up to more than the GVW - this is to give the driver some flexibility as to where they position the load

[ROG.]

would actualy be usefull to know what i'm allowed to tow one of these days.  but i think the whole B+E licence is a load of tosh

as far as i read it i can tow nasty littel un manuvable trailers all i like,  but usefull size trailers with something usefull on them like a car i cant and chould possobly get points and whole world of grief for doing so.    BUT  if i jump in a tractor bering in mind i'm useless at driveing them i can hook u to 20 ton of trailer and go for a drive perfectly legaly   what relly takes the piss is if i first of all hook up to a drawbar that carries a 5th wheel hitch  i can then hook up to an artic trailer  dose mean it's basicly a turntabel trailer so really nasty but i can go for a drive with that no problems as long as its under 26 ton.


the really confuseing one tho is  what's legal with the pickuptruck.    its a ford XLT450  but reisterd as a tractor  and had  air/oil brake linkup fitted  mostly for shunting trailers but what would it be legal to take down the road behind it ?

My knowledge of farmimg towing rules is so limited I would not dare to try and answer that
What I can say is that certain exemptions were put in for the farming community as history showed that these were needed to keep us all fed

I would imagine that the XLT450 will have a handbook showing what it is or is not capable of and if not then contacting the manufacturer would be the only other recourse IMO

Different vehicle categories have their own legal rules so one cannot be judged against the other

It seems from your post you only have a B licence but with the right vehicle and trailer you could tow an actual weight of 1500 kgs for example
CAR
unladen 1500
GVW 2000
towing capacity 1800

TRAILER
Unladen 500
MAM 1500
Load it with 1000

[ROG.]

GVW: 2160kg
Kerb Weight with driver: 1646kg
Gross Axle Weight front: 1080kg
Gross Axle Weight rear: 1150kg
Towing capacity 2000

B+E licence
Any trailer up to 3500 plated MAM
Do not load to more than 2000 actual weight when loaded

B licence
Max trailer plated MAM of 1340 (1340+2160=3500)

[Diamond Hell]

Thanks a lot for this clarification - it's very useful in ensuring that people know what they're legal to tow.

So basically, if you have a reasonably rated estate car (e.g. 2WD 130PD Passat GVW2030kg) and a lightweight car trailer, with a stripped out Golf2 or similar you're going to be OK on a B. 

The fly in the ointment for my set up, on a B is that the trailer is rated at 1450kg so a B licence would mean you weren't allowed to tow it because the MAM of the train could be over 3500kg, right?

Just to confirm the calculation that the police would use to confirm a good shafting if someone with a B-licence was caught with my set up would be:

Car GVW 2160kg
Trailer MAM 1450kg
Total MAM = 3610kg

But if they were running a 2WD Passat 130PD with the same trailer they'd be OK on the handbook value of that car's GVW of 2030kg

Are there many car trailers now being produced which are low weight, high capacity to cater to the B-only market?  I know a lot of the Brian James rigs are rated to load 2000kg on them, which would put a B licence holder WAY over on most things that could tow them with a reasonable load.