:d

ashleywood.ash said:

check the "for example" on here adz

Towing trailers or caravans with vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes : Directgov - Motoring

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Did that already... linked to the page earlier in the thread.

For example:
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

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My emphasis - this is about the entitlement to drive based on which test the driver took and which category of vehicle(s) are listed on their licence. It has nothing to do with whether that vehicle is overladen.

Also, just below it, is this:

Category B+E allows vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes MAM to be combined with trailers in excess of 750kgs MAM. In order to gain this entitlement new category B licence holders have to pass a further practical test for category B+E. There is no category B+E theory test. For driver licensing purposes there are no vehicle/trailer weight ratio limits for category B+E.

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Again, my emphasis.

As to the MAM of the trailer and what's actually loaded in it: towing a trailer with a MAM greater than the MAM for the towing vehicle doesn't mean I've committed an offence, unless I load it such that the actual mass exceeds the authorized towing limit of the vehicle. In much the same way, owning an eight inch carving knife doesn't mean I've committed the offence of stabbing someone, unless I actually do it of course.

In a nutshell... not overweight and correctly licensed to drive = no offence.

yes with b+e on your licence you can tow various aspects of weight providing it is in the plate limits. e.g a disco can tow 3500kg legally but even fully loaded it will never weight this but it is still legal providing the trailer is cabable of holding such a load. so with B+E it is fine providing you still to the legal maximums which are that the vehicles MAM does not exceed 3500kg. by putting in this MAM vehicle weight it will in turn keep the train weight down as there are obviously very few vehciles on the road with a MAM of up to 3500kg that will tow a trailer that is considerably heavier than this weight therefore keeping the overall train weight of B+E licence holders down.

FWIW:

I noticed right at the start of the thread that someone mentioned using a van, but the allowed weights are pretty useless, most are 2 tonnes max, so you're better off with a Disco or similar. We have a pair of Renault Trafic LWB DCi 140 and 150, and a Master 2.8 turbo before that, and they are only 2 tonnes max trailer weight.

Peter