Been nabbed by the police for illegal towing

[ME]

Why not but a blank trailer plate from ebay and stamp it to suit what you need ?

Think Vosa might see through a transit with ten tonne gross train weight

The Trailer plate not the Van

[bez]

i was told the other day by plod that to tow a car on my mates spec lift i needed to pass my towing test.is this true?makes no diffrence to me as iv got my hgv but sounded a load of sh*t.

[85rob]

if you've got your class 1, then you dont have to,

[vannut]

i was told the other day by plod that to tow a car on my mates spec lift i needed to pass my towing test.is this true?makes no diffrence to me as iv got my hgv but sounded a load of sh*t.

Depends on the gross weight of your spec truck, and the size of the vehicle on your spec.

[vannut]

Just an update on this. I haven't given up, and the more I dig, the more I think plod was wrong, (see original post) I've been to the local Library today to see if I could find the latest Sweet and Maxwell edition on Traffic Law. They don't have it! (the current edition is £930 in Hardback, or £1265 on CD rom....)

I'm still digging though.

[bez]

i was told the other day by plod that to tow a car on my mates spec lift i needed to pass my towing test.is this true?makes no diffrence to me as iv got my hgv but sounded a load of sh*t.

Depends on the gross weight of your spec truck, and the size of the vehicle on your spec.

transit

[godderidge]

If i am not mistaken any plate attached to a trailer that is not subject to a M.O.T is not enforceable by law. If you have a caravan and having weighed it at a weighbridge and it is over it's M.A.M you can ask the caravan manufacturer for a new plate with a higher M.A.M. perfectly legal . The plate is merely used as a guide. Also I think there is no legal requirement for any trailer not subject to a M.O.T to have any plate. When you were stopped by the police the thing there were bothered about was your G.T.W which they could have worked out at the road side without taking you to a weighbridge, the real reason they took you to a weighbridge was to find out what your trailer actually weighed which was about 2800 ton and this exceeded your towing allowance
Because your van has a plate fitted it is enforceable by law but the G.T.W given by the manufacture is given as a guide (but enforceable) now most transit's over 3500T have a towing limit of two tons so a 4500T transit will have a 2 Ton towing limit giving a G.T.W of 6500 Also when you by a new van you can request for the vehicle to tow more than two tones but generally the manufacturer will fit a low ratio rear axle , my point in this paragraph is to say that ford say that your brakes are good to 6500 Ton so you could get a new vehicle plate made to have a G.T.W of 6250 and be legal this won't get you of a fine this time but bits could be used in mitigation
The police know that most vans have a 2 Ton towing limit on there plates so it is a easy pull !!!

[vannut]

i was told the other day by plod that to tow a car on my mates spec lift i needed to pass my towing test.is this true?makes no diffrence to me as iv got my hgv but sounded a load of sh*t.

Depends on the gross weight of your spec truck, and the size of the vehicle on your spec.

transit

What class LGV have you got? If you've got C+E then you're ok, if you've only got C, then you're not... unless you passed your car test before 1997.

[bez]

iv got class 1 and 2 its covered under class 2 iv been told,like cab and drag

[LSi]

Just an update on this. I haven't given up, and the more I dig, the more I think plod was wrong, (see original post) I've been to the local Library today to see if I could find the latest Sweet and Maxwell edition on Traffic Law. They don't have it! (the current edition is £930 in Hardback, or £1265 on CD rom....)

I'm still digging though.

I commend your digging Sir!

[alanwh]

Just an update on this. I haven't given up, and the more I dig, the more I think plod was wrong, (see original post) I've been to the local Library today to see if I could find the latest Sweet and Maxwell edition on Traffic Law. They don't have it! (the current edition is £930 in Hardback, or £1265 on CD rom....)

I'm still digging though.

I commend your digging Sir!

I'll second that

How can they expect anyone to have a bloody clue what they are doing, if the letter of the law is only obtainable by paying £1000 bleeding quid

[ginsambo]

Its alright, I'm not a priority case for swine flu so apparently I'm not gonna be treated needless to say, I probably won't be here in 2 months time if I believe the news!

Them books full of shiffle ain't cheap are they! Well at that price I certainly doubt Wiltshire Constabulary could afford so should be alright towing the minidigger before I pop off

Seriously good work, thanks!!

[vannut]

We're getting there!

Spoke to a traffic plod this morning at the local butty van I've known her 25 years and have a great deal of respect for her! She is of the same opinion as me, in that the plod in the original post has it wrong, but she's gone away to trawl through the regs and is going to e-mail me the result.

In addition, she has given me the contact details of an ex VOSA examiner, whose speciality was trailer law. He now works freelance as a legal consultant, so I'm going to arrange a meet with him and see if we can bottom this finally.

Then we might have to set about getting the VOSA and directgovt websites amended!

Watch this space.

[juliantlee]

You're getting there. We'll all be pround as punch on belly button sunday when we know exactly where we stand. We all need to tow more than 2t.

3 cheers for vanut !! hip, hip, horray

[bj928]

i spoke to friend of mine who is a VOSA person, she deals with GTW and GVW all day every day at one of the Kent sites, normally ashford i believe where they pull the trucks in off the motorway to go over them with fine tooth comb, anyway, she said as far as she's concerned, if she pulled me in with a trailer on the back of my transit, all she would be interested in is axle weights and GTW, and tacho if its over 3.5t for business use, other than that its not a problem, as long as its a "comercial vehicle", i asked her about towing 3.5t with an empty swb 330 and she said as long as the axle weights and GTW were under their max it wasn't be a problem, so as they say, thats from the horses mouth, and thats good enough for me.