Chris Leonard
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| posted on 13/10/04 at 11:47 AM |
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towing on motorways
I've got to pick up a donor for another project - anyone know whats the score on towing a car down the motorway. Is it legal - and what max
speed!
It's gonna have to be towed about 150 miles -
cheers Chris
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 13/10/04 at 11:59 AM |
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Chris,
Do you mean towing with a rope, or on a trailer?
If you mean on a rope then I'd guess that the police would take a dim view! Apart from that, I'd be too scared, myself...
Better on a trailer, if you can get hold of one. In which case, it's 60mph on a motorway or dual-carriageway, otherwise, 50mph.
regards,
David
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James
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| posted on 13/10/04 at 12:01 PM |
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No idea on the legality but I'd recommend using a tow bar as opposed to a rope if you can get one- makes things a lot easier.
Cheers,
James
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locoboy
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| posted on 13/10/04 at 12:08 PM |
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Chris,
I towed my chassis down from Glasgow to Telford on a Dolly (rear chassis wheels on the road) i later found out it was illegal because the item being
towed falls outside of the regs for a trailer and inside the regs for a car and as it had no tax/mot and was not in a roadworthy condition it should
not have been in contact with the queens highway.
I did however ask a motorway cop a few months later if it was illegal to tow using rope or a frame on a motorway.
The answer was not so long as the car is in a roadworthy condition T&T and you have a suitable trailer board set up. And he also added that if it
were illegal the AA and RAC etc would be breaking the law every time they recovered anyone from the motorway other than when using a recovery
truck.
It was pointed out that a solid tow pole or A frame are the better options but the rope was NOT illegal.
Hop that helps, but i guess the donor is not T&T 
ATB
Locoboy
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Hellfire
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| posted on 13/10/04 at 12:08 PM |
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There is no law against it...
There isn't honest - unbelievable! 
According to THIS there is no law against it.
Just bear in mind though - the towed car will have to have valid Road Tax and hold it's own MOT.
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stephen_gusterson
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| posted on 13/10/04 at 12:53 PM |
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and its own insurance...
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theconrodkid
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| posted on 13/10/04 at 12:55 PM |
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i was told you could only use a rope for towing a car off to the nearest exit,when i was doing recovery work one of our boys with a spec was told he
couldnt tow a car on a motorway with it by plod,bit like sva really,depends where you are
who cares who wins
pass the pork pies
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john_p_b
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| posted on 13/10/04 at 01:28 PM |
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towing with a spec frame
i tow motors up and down the M1/M69 all day long sometimes on a spec frame on the back of our recovery truck at work. bit scary really towing brand
new cars around 2 days after i got my LGV2 license 
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James
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| posted on 13/10/04 at 02:31 PM |
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Hellfire, interesting site.
From the question:
Q. I rarely see signs banning pedestrians. Are they allowed on motorways?
"<snip> Obvious exceptions to this rule are if your vehicle has broken down and you need to walk to a Police SOS telephone, in other such
emergencies or if you need to recover an obstruction from the carriageway."
Reminded me of a couple of weeks ago. Came along the A3 at around 70 (evening rush hour) and there round a bend lying in the road in front of me is a
mattress!
Can tell you that caused a slight twitchy ring moment!
James
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mackie
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| posted on 13/10/04 at 02:55 PM |
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We towed a very unroadworthy Sierra 4x4 35 miles on a rope from aylesbury to st albans (using my then car, a rover 414i). We avoided any motorways
which unfortunately involved going round hemel's magic roundabout.
There's a loophole (I believe) in that you can tow it if it's on it's way to an MoT test centre (we had an appointment which was
subsequently cancelled ). I bought the car and blueshift had insurance to drive other people's cars so I think we were reasonably legal. It
took 2 hours and we didn't get busted. It's wise to have "on tow" clearly displayed on the towed car too.
M
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stephen_gusterson
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| posted on 13/10/04 at 03:22 PM |
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several things are banned on motorways, such as animals, pedestrians, stopping, roadside picknics, street parties, vehicles under 50cc or not capable
of 30mph. You are supposed to know these things - thats why they are not signposted....
atb
steve
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James
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| posted on 13/10/04 at 03:54 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by stephen_gusterson
street parties,
Dammit!
That's New Years out the window then!
James
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JoelP
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| posted on 13/10/04 at 08:52 PM |
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imagine being towed on a ten foot rope at 70 mph! stuff that for a game of soldiers...
id rather drive it illegally than be towed like that legally...
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mackie
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| posted on 14/10/04 at 01:58 PM |
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We were doing about 25mph down the A41
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Chris Leonard
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| posted on 15/10/04 at 12:18 PM |
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Well, thanks for all the advice. We towed it back yesterday. 159 miles - no problems. Used a towbar from Machine mart (£25.00 for the one with the
damper spring £10.00 without). What a revalation, after years of using tow ropes (for short distances mind you) what a great bit of kit a towbar is. I
had to remind myself that I had a car behind me (it was a 3 door Sierra with a v8 in it !)
Mind you my mate in the Sierra wasnt so happy as it didn't have a windscreen - and yes it did rain!
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Peteff
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| posted on 15/10/04 at 12:29 PM |
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3 door sierra!
Don't scrap the shell, you'll get a buyer for it after.
yours, Pete
I went into the RSPCA office the other day. It was so small you could hardly swing a cat in there.
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ChrisW
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| posted on 15/10/04 at 12:42 PM |
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I've used a dolly a few times to move untaxed, uninsured, un-MOT'd cars around. Never had any problems, even on the motorway.
Just make sure you display a trailer board on the back and I can't see there being too much bother unless you're being really stupid.
I've got a feeling there are potential problems as a dolly is technically an articulated trailer. Would take an jobsworth copper to do anything
about it tho.... oh, that'll be all of them then!
Chris
My gaff my rules
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 15/10/04 at 12:53 PM |
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There's a discussion about this sort of thing on TOL - here's a link I posted there, which may help...
Clicky
rgds,
David
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Avoneer
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| posted on 22/10/04 at 09:50 PM |
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"blueshift had insurance to drive other people's cars"
-----------------------------------------------------
You are not insured even if your policy says you can drive any other car third party unless the other car is already insured by another party.
No trees were killed in the sending of this message.
However a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.
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