Hi All

I passed my car practical test after 1997, so that entitles me to a fisherprice license with hardly any entitlements.

The guide lines for towing trailer for people who passed after 1997:

Extract from direct.gov website

"If you passed a car test on or after 1 January 1997 you're limited to vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes maximum authorised mass towing a trailer up to 750kgs, or a vehicle and trailer combination up to 3.5 tonnes MAM providing the MAM of the trailer doesn't exceed the unladen mass of the towing vehicle. You will need to pass an additional driving test in B+E if you wish to tow a caravan or trailer combination which exceeds these weight limits."

So my cars gross weight is 1675kg,
My Kit is 650Kg
My trailor is 250Kg

Which gives a grand total of 2575kg, which is lower than the 3.5 tonnes allowed with the fisher price license.

So do people agree i'm OK to tow my kit given the weights above.

Or am i totally missing the point.

-- Ash

Some one said the other day its down to the plated weight of the trailer not the actual weight you get stoped with on any given day.

I understood it was still a max of 750kg ?

it is purely down to the MAM on the plate of the trailer.

edit: you can tow more than 750kgs's MAM but it has to be less than the MAM of the tow car. AND the train weight must be less than 3.5tonne (MAM trailer + MAM car)

[Edited on 22/9/09 by dinosaurjuice]

No problem, provided - the tow car is rated for that weight (GTW on the plate)

The MAM on the trailer plate plus the unladen weight of the towcar is less than the 3500kg. (re-plate the trailer if you have to, or remove the plate if manufactured prior to 1982 as there's no requirement to be plated prior to then.)

if the trailer is braked then you can go over 750kgs, if its not you cant.

You can change the plate on trailer real easy, the plates can be bought blank on ebay for buttons, then just copy it with a stamp set, but change the MAM to whatever you need it to add up to.

i rung the dvla today with exactly the same question.

they said the total of my car the trailer and the load on the trailer can be no more than 3.5t. but the weight of the trailer and load must be less that the unloaded weight of the car.

my car unloaded is 1600kg the trailer is 450kg and the kit car is 550kg making the trailer and load 1000kg

so the total weight is 2.6t which is 600kg below my towable weight.

the chap also said if i get pulled over the car trailer and load plus passengers and luggage in car will all be weighed and must be under 3.5t.

also if you get pulled they weigh the trailer on its own just to make sure its less than the unloaded car.

i have the conversation with the chap recorded on my mobile. if i get pulled i will be playing it to the copper.

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Originally posted by Dangle_kt


You can change the plate on trailer real easy, the plates can be bought blank on ebay for buttons, then just copy it with a stamp set, but change the MAM to whatever you need it to add up to.

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as far as i can tell your license alows you to drive nothing much, the direct.gov website is full of clauses to say you can drive just about anything.

in short: anyones guess

My understanding is the same as AshG's.

I think you'll be ok providing your trailer is correctly plated or downgraded which is not an issue if done correctly.

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Originally posted by ashg
i rung the dvla today with exactly the same question.

they said the total of my car the trailer and the load on the trailer can be no more than 3.5t. but the weight of the trailer and load must be less that the unloaded weight of the car.

my car unloaded is 1600kg the trailer is 450kg and the kit car is 550kg making the trailer and load 1000kg

so the total weight is 2.6t which is 600kg below my towable weight.

the chap also said if i get pulled over the car trailer and load plus passengers and luggage in car will all be weighed and must be under 3.5t.

also if you get pulled they weigh the trailer on its own just to make sure its less than the unloaded car.

i have the conversation with the chap recorded on my mobile. if i get pulled i will be playing it to the copper.

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i currently have a car Lic (Circa 1992) and I tow a Landorver on a trailer with a ford ranger pickup 4x4 (3l tdci)

( Trailer is rated to 3.5 tons) Landorver is about 2 Ton. Trailer is about 750kg-1ton.

Tow vehilce is 2.0.tons with tow capacity of 3.5ton... giving train Weight of About 5 Tons depending on loading of ranger.

But as it is a commercial vehical I can also put a ton on the load bay or the ranger as well.

All done on standard license.

yes, and we're all very jealous, but after 1997 you got a 3.5 tonne cap with a lot of restrictions imposed.

The rules are simple enough tbh, I really dont get the problems everyone has with understanding them

Basically from what I can make out is that a trailers MAM cannot be greater than 750kgs and the MAM of the tow vehicle must be greater than the trailers MAM. The total of the cars MAM and the Trailers MAM must not be greater than 3.5 tons. So a trailer with a kit car on board will be touching the border line especially pintos

Slightly OT I'm on an old licence and on a tacho card. I work nights delivering newpapers and am on tacho hours at the end of my shift (no more than 6 days without a 48hr break) I can then climb into a transit and drive to scotland and back perfectly legaly. afraid it don't make sense to me. can't wait to see how their going to implement tachos in transit sized vehicles in a couple of years.

tony

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