Hi

Just had a thought! :cool:

What would happen if i were to use a home made trailer that hasnt got a plate showing the weights, then what would happen cos then obviously this would mean that the trailer does not have a M.A.M.
Im just desperatly looking for loop holes in the law because if i cat tow it i cant buy it! :mad:
cheers
Matt
 
Itsaworldofdiscovery said:
Hi

Just had a thought! :cool:

What would happen if i were to use a home made trailer that hasnt got a plate showing the weights, then what would happen cos then obviously this would mean that the trailer does not have a M.A.M.
Im just desperatly looking for loop holes in the law because if i cat tow it i cant buy it! :mad:
cheers
Matt
Click to expand...
Simple..If you want it get someone to tow it for ya or risk the ban/points
 
nathan5346 said:
Simple..If you want it get someone to tow it for ya or risk the ban/points
Click to expand...

Yeah i know, the thing that annoys me is that just because people are slightly older they are allowed to tow and simply because of a timelimit i cannot, this shows that it is not a safety issue otherwise they would have done something about the older licence holders as what stops a 70 year old bloke going out and towing a massive caravan, for his first time towing, i think that this would be far more dangerous than myself and that shows it is just burocracy and jobsworths making decisions!

I have looked into doing the test but by the time i have had half a dousen hours tutition the £141 quid for the test and the hire of a "sutiable trailer" to use for the test, i am looking at way over £500 quid!
Its pathetic!!!

Sorry for the rant again, this kinda thing ****es me off!!!!

I cant even do as one suggestion and hire a flatbed to put it on because you have to be 21!

grrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
lol
 
I have the same problem, passed my test in 1999 so can't tow a trailer or drive a minibus apperantly.

If you a bit of digging post 97 licence's can drive minibuses upto 16 seats but not for hire or gain (basically if your not getting payed) only problem is nobody has read the rules and everbody askes for D1 when you don't need it.

As for the trailer bit what really ****es me off about that one is due to the economy loads of people have gone out and bought caravans but have never towed before and then can't cope, make a mess of things and think driving at 30mph everywhere is acceptable leaving a queue 5 miles behind them.

This is just the goverment trying to make more money out the poor motorist who alreadys pays over the top for fuel, road tax and now has to pay extra just to get on with life.

Sorry about the rant but this ****es me off, but then I have risked the points and driven my disco with a car transporter full hundreds of miles and the police never bat an eye so long as your sensible and don't look out of place.
 
there are towing courses that are on weekends for £400 odd this includes a night in a hotel, was going to do it with my brother in law but have my Class 1 and 2 now HGV/LGV
 
minidod said:
I have the same problem, passed my test in 1999 so can't tow a trailer or drive a minibus apperantly.

If you a bit of digging post 97 licence's can drive minibuses upto 16 seats but not for hire or gain (basically if your not getting payed) only problem is nobody has read the rules and everbody askes for D1 when you don't need it.

As for the trailer bit what really ****es me off about that one is due to the economy loads of people have gone out and bought caravans but have never towed before and then can't cope, make a mess of things and think driving at 30mph everywhere is acceptable leaving a queue 5 miles behind them.

This is just the goverment trying to make more money out the poor motorist who alreadys pays over the top for fuel, road tax and now has to pay extra just to get on with life.

Sorry about the rant but this ****es me off, but then I have risked the points and driven my disco with a car transporter full hundreds of miles and the police never bat an eye so long as your sensible and don't look out of place.
Click to expand...

Exactly what i was saying fella, Its so damned annoying it really does get right up my nose!

It is not so much being puilled over by the police that bothers me as i am sure that they dont really know the laws on this themselves and i bet its too much hassle for them anyway, by the time they have escorted you to a weighbridge and things to prove. its easier for them to chace people speeding and stuff.

the thing that worries me is, god forbid i am involved in an accident, i am guessing that this would void my insurance ect!
there is absolutly no economically viable way for me to transport cars legally, again the goverment wins because it makes it even harder to get old cars back on the road! :doh:
 
there are huge safety reasons for not allowing inexperienced drivers to tow anything over a small baggage trailer without taking further test / licence.. towing is a skill that takes a long time to learn by trial and error and even longer to be good enough to do it safely all the time.. I have been towing things of various sizes for over 10 years and i still come across situations that scare me or where I'm not really sure what the best course of action is so instinct takes over.. the problem is that lots of things you do when you're towing are counterintuitive so instinct isn't the safest thing in the world, knowledge and experience is..

I agree it seems to penalise you as a young driver but imagine the opposite.. imagine that you had a landscape gardener been towing his lawnmower and mini digger on a twin axle behind a disco for years, makes a reasonable income but nothing that's going to scare alan sugar.. then one day the government realise they need to do sommat about the twonks ranting about at 80 with stupid great caravans swaying all over the road and pass a law that retrospectively takes away his right to carry on towing that trailer.. is it fair? would it cause outrage?

the reality is that over the next 30-40 years us olduns with grandfather rights to hire little trucks and tow big boats will either die or lose our licences cos we still can't get used to bloody speed cameras and the roads will become a much safer place because of these rules.. suck it up and get used to it, the nanny state is here to stay and it aint the government you need to blame it's the insurance companies..
 
Interestingly when my other truck (RRC) was delivered a few weeks ago i went out to help unload it.............no load straps....at all.....anywhere (if you exclude the ones in the boot). We won't do the what if's...he had family in the car with him but had clearly given no thought to some one pulling out etc.

Nick.
 
I am not saying its a bad thing that they are making it so that you have to take another test, but i think it should be more vocational, as in you do a course through the dvla which shows you how to "tow safely" and have a small test at the end to see if you are capable or not rather than just a hours test.

As a few of you have said, towing takes practice and no matter how many hours driving you have on with a instructor (with a nice light unloaded trailer) i dont think it qualifys you to be safe, the same as a ordinary car test doesnt. but the fact that there are so many hoops to jump through and at such great expence is what really annoys me, it is just another way for them to earn more money!

Oh and i am from coventry matey, and the car is down in surrey!

cheers
 
no lessons don't make you safe but in the same way that driving lessons give you the basic knowledge to then go on and learn from experience so do towing lessons.. I was lucky enough to have my first towing experience with a firm that made me do a basic tow course with one of their HGV drivers which taught me a lot.. not everyone with grandfather rights has that level of luck.. and the pillock that overtook me the other day on the motorway (I was doing at least the legal limit in the middle lane and he was in the outside lane) and then nearly took me out with his towed vehicle when he pulled back in obviously hadn't... at least now new drivers on the scene will have the chance to learn to do it properly before they go out and start..
 
I agree with minidod, youll be fine on the road, but your right when you say if anything goes wrong you'll be for the high jump.
The test is an extended test apprently based on the HGV test.Griffdowg did his recentlty through his job, may be useful for The old CV depending on yer line of work.
 
goonarmy said:
I agree with minidod, youll be fine on the road, but your right when you say if anything goes wrong you'll be for the high jump.
The test is an extended test apprently based on the HGV test.Griffdowg did his recentlty through his job, may be useful for The old CV depending on yer line of work.
Click to expand...


Yeah i know all this, i have found a relitivly lightweight unbraked (well it has them but have been disconnected to bring it under the 750 unbraked limit) and i recon that i can get the car and trailer combo to weigh less than 750 as the car has no interior or glass and the engine is hardley bolted in so i will lift this out and put it in the back of the disco, its a lot of hassle but i think its the only way i am going to be able to get around this at short notice. :eek:
I will look at doing the trailer test at a later date when funds and time allow!
 
Itsaworldofdiscovery said:
I am not saying its a bad thing that they are making it so that you have to take another test, but i think it should be more vocational, as in you do a course through the dvla which shows you how to "tow safely" and have a small test at the end to see if you are capable or not rather than just a hours test.
Click to expand...
Eh? what do you think the current +E test is about if not to see if you can tow safely? If you can't couple & uncouple the trailer, perform basic maneuvers and drive safely on the highway, you fail.

What you desire is almost exactly the current situation, except instead of DVLA running the course, suitably qualified individuals do (driving instructors). This is a good thing, if DVLA/DSA ran the courses they would take 32 years to complete, require a medical that would eliminate many astronauts, and cost the same as the national budget of a small african nation. Look at the current situation with LGV/PCV, where there is an element of vocational classroom learning now, that is handled by the instructors, in much the same way as CBT for motorcyclists. The less DVLA and DSA have to do with training, the better.
As a few of you have said, towing takes practice and no matter how many hours driving you have on with a instructor (with a nice light unloaded trailer) i dont think it qualifys you to be safe, the same as a ordinary car test doesnt.
Click to expand...
But you seem to state earlier, that a simple course run by DVLA/DSA would be sufficient.
but the fact that there are so many hoops to jump through and at such great expence is what really annoys me, it is just another way for them to earn more money!
Click to expand...
There are no hoops really, as with your first car test there is nothing to stop you booking a test with no prior instruction of any type and just rolling up in a suitable vehicle/combination, no medical, no extra theory test, just the one test. You dont have to pay for instruction, much as it was not essential to pay for lessons to learn to drive. You want hoops, try for the bigger combos such as C1+E or C+E where there are medicals, classroom sessions and stricter theory tests.

Quickest, probably cheapest option, get a suitable freind/relative added to your insurance, sit back and enjoy the ride while they drive. Other options may include, buy a cheap mondeo or similar from ebay with a tow hitch, use it (subject to weights still, so not really likely as most car trailers will have a MAM that takes you well above 3500kg GTW), flog it again, perhaps even at a small profit! Buy and resell a beavertail transit in much the same way. At least its only a mini, that means it will ride on a transit unlike another disco :)
 
very good byway but you forgot to add after all that to get hgv or pvc you then have to take a drivers cpc just to add to the £2000 you have just spent, getting it more money, around £500 mark
 
Itsaworldofdiscovery said:
Yeah i know all this, i have found a relitivly lightweight unbraked (well it has them but have been disconnected to bring it under the 750 unbraked limit) and i recon that i can get the car and trailer combo to weigh less than 750 as the car has no interior or glass and the engine is hardley bolted in so i will lift this out and put it in the back of the disco, its a lot of hassle but i think its the only way i am going to be able to get around this at short notice. :eek:
I will look at doing the trailer test at a later date when funds and time allow!
Click to expand...

If a trailer has had brakes disconnected, the plod and insurance are going to view it in much the same way if you disconnected the brakes on your disco I'm sure.

If a trailer has had brakes, and a design MAM of over 750kg, then that is the MAM that counts. It will not be a 750kg unbraked trailer, it will be an xxxxkg trailer with ineffective brakes. Meaning doubly busted for you if anything goes wrong.
 
I can't be arsed with people who moan that they aren't allowed to do this or that or whatever. It's clear what you have to do in order to be allowed to tow trailers over 750kg. The rules haven't changed for many years and they're there for a reason. The fact that people who passed their tests before 1997 have the entitlement is down to the fact that you can't take something off people that already have it, but after a long notice period the law was changed, resulting in the situation as it is now.
 
surely u got a friend or family member with a pre 97 licence thats insured for other cars. beer tokens always help. or ask nicely, there'l b someone local on here that could help.
 
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