Trailer towing:- B and B+E licence rules explained

[tehguy]

Good luck finding a vehicle with 1700kg MAM and 2000kg towing capacity! My car has a 2195kg MAM and 1900kg towing capacity.

Realistically you COULD tow a car on a trailer, providing your car and trailer are both very light! For example with my car and B licence only I could tow 1305kg MAM, there are some small and light car transporters which have a MAM of 1300kg and are only 350kg or so unladen giving a paylod of 950kg - plenty for a stripped out trackday car like a Caterham or even a hatchback. That would be PERFECTLY legal on a B licence.

Carrying on from the above, to show how crazy the rules are, if a B licence holder was to load that 1300kg MAM trailer up to its limit they could tow it perfectly legally. Yet they couldn't tow an unladen 1350kg MAM trailer, even though it might only way 350kg!

As for the latest update of the rules and the 3500kg MAM maximum for B+E trailers, that is going to affect approximately 0 people. Since overrun brakes are only allowed for trailers up to 3500kg, it's very rare to find trailers designed to be towed by category B vehicles which are more than this. There are some though, but obviously with different braking systems (electric or air).

[109er]

tehguy said:

Good luck finding a vehicle with 1700kg MAM and 2000 kg towing capacity! My car has a 2195 kg MAM and 1900 kg towing capacity.

I think I have ratio wise. Normal unlade weight 1494 kg.
Vehicle has MAM of 2678 kg and, depending on what type
of hitch is fitted the following towing capacities:
Tow ball/jaw max 2032 kg
Towing pintle max 7500 kg
These figures are from the official 'vehicle specification manual' from the
manufacturer.

Edited by 109er on Sunday 29th September 10:55

[Edgemoor]

I would never take to risk again
I was pulled when towing my trailer wow they dont mess about mind you did have a machine on the back still waiting to here from them they can fine me up to £5000 thats a bit steep lesson learned i must say. in the the end after hours off ringing around and surfing the net found www.tachosupplies.co.uk the cheapest and it arrived the next day. If you look around people tell you you must take it to a tacho centre to have it fitted you don't only to have it calibrated £60 max

[Rosscow]

Rog,

Just to clarify that nothing has changed since post #1 in this thread:

If I wanted to tow a caravan that would make the total weight of car/caravan over the 3500kg limit, I presume I can drive under L plates on my provisional license with my Dad or father-in-law supervising me with their 'Grandfather rights' B+E entitlement? Obviously over 21 years old, 3 years experience etc.

Am I correct?

[R0G]

Rosscow said:

Rog,

Just to clarify that nothing has changed since post #1 in this thread:

If I wanted to tow a caravan that would make the total weight of car/caravan over the 3500kg limit, I presume I can drive under L plates on my provisional license with my Dad or father-in-law supervising me with their 'Grandfather rights' B+E entitlement? Obviously over 21 years old, 3 years experience etc.

Am I correct?

The one thing that has changed since post 1 for B licence towing is that the rule which stated the trailer MAM or MTPLM must not exceed the vehicle kerb weight has been revoked on 19/01/2013

The rest stays the same so yes, you can be supervised as you stated

[Rosscow]

Excellent, thank you for your guidance!

Ross

[R0G]

Rosscow said:

Excellent, thank you for your guidance!

Ross

Remember how you did the road drive on your car test and drive that way if poss as well as doing a lot of reversing and un/coupling because that will set you up for a very short B+E course and test in the future if you go for that

MIRRORS (always both) and blind spots when moving off etc is what the DSA want to see

[MrLizard]

I have read the thread and im still finding this very difficult to understand, so excusing my stupidity can someone help.

I only have the B license and need to tow a car that weighs 1300kg, im happy to buy any car suitable for the job and the same with the trailer, i have braked and unbraked trailers at my disposal and a but looking to purchase another tow vehicle.

Do i need to do the B+E license test or is there anyway I can get round doing that?

[jagracer]

MrLizard said:

I have read the thread and im still finding this very difficult to understand, so excusing my stupidity can someone help.

I only have the B license and need to tow a car that weighs 1300kg, im happy to buy any car suitable for the job and the same with the trailer, i have braked and unbraked trailers at my disposal and a but looking to purchase another tow vehicle.

Do i need to do the B+E license test or is there anyway I can get round doing that?

I doubt you'd find any car/trailer combination that would go under 3500kg GTW to carry a 1300kg car. My lightest trailer is plated at 2000kg gross and weighs 500kg which is quite light for it's class.

[R0G]

If the actual weight of the load (car) is 1300 and the lightest trailer I know of for doing that is 400 and you could get that trailer plated at 1700 then you would need a towing vehicle which had a max GVW of 1800 with a towing capacity of at least 1700 ...... never come across such a vehicle

You could tow under B+E rules with L plates and a supervising B+E driver

[R0G]

To tow a trailer over 750 kgs plated MAM on a B licence there is one extra rule in addition to the usual B+E towing rules and that is ....

The vehicle GVW added to the trailer plated MAM must not total more than 3500 kgs

GVW & MAM have the same meaning - the maximum weight they can legally be when fully loaded

[MrLizard]

i dont have anyone that can supervise, so the best way forwards would be to take and pass the test i guess, then buy a disco and carry on.

thanks very much for the information that did actually make sense to me

[R0G]

MrLizard said:

thanks very much for the information that did actually make sense to me

I try to make it as simple as I can .... unlike the GOV sites !1

[Comacchio]

I'm mid argument with someone at the moment and need advice..

Licence: B
Car: GVW: 1800 KG, Unladen weight: 1380 KG, Max braked towing weight 1500 KG
Trailer: 1300 KG Braked, Total laden weight of trailer: 1100 KG.

Is this legal to tow with the B licence?

Thanks,

Allan

[R0G]

Comacchio said:

I'm mid argument with someone at the moment and need advice..

Licence: B
Car: GVW: 1800 KG, Unladen weight: 1380 KG, Max braked towing weight 1500 KG
Trailer: 1300 KG Braked, Total laden weight of trailer: 1100 KG.

Is this legal to tow with the B licence?

Thanks,

Allan

I am ASSUMING the trailer 1300 is the plated MAM for it ???????

LEGAL - 1800 GVW + 1300 MAM = 3100 so under the 3500 limit for towing with a B licence

NOTE:- With a GVW of 1800 and a towing capacity of 1500 you could have a trailer plated at 1700 but can only load it so it has an actual max weight of 1500

[jagracer]

Do you need to have a medical to obtain a B+E licence?

[R0G]

jagracer said:

Do you need to have a medical to obtain a B+E licence?

No

No medical + no theory

[mph1977]

R0G said:

jagracer said:

Do you need to have a medical to obtain a B+E licence?

No

No medical + no theory

cat A and B licences and variations thereof are NOT 'vocational' licences and therefore don't require medicals and aren't subject to the stricter medical standards of vocational licences... this creates the situation where a vehicle that is very similar can be a vocationa lvehicle in one variation, a vocational vehicle in a second derivative but a none vocational vehicle in a third derivative if used in a certain way ...

[Neezer]

I always like how government websites are actually very misleading: https://www.gov.uk/driving-licence-categories

Under the category B part: "You can also tow heavier trailers if the total weight of vehicle and trailer isn’t more than 3,500kg".

This could easily (and incorrectly, but very understandably) be interpreted as the actual 'physical' weight of the car and trailer at the time, and not the gross train weight based on the gvw and plated max weight of the braked trailer.

I swear they set you up to fail!!!!

[jagracer]

Neezer said:

I always like how government websites are actually very misleading: https://www.gov.uk/driving-licence-categories

Under the category B part: "You can also tow heavier trailers if the total weight of vehicle and trailer isn’t more than 3,500kg".

This could easily (and incorrectly, but very understandably) be interpreted as the actual 'physical' weight of the car and trailer at the time, and not the gross train weight based on the gvw and plated max weight of the braked trailer.

I swear they set you up to fail!!!!

I think in this case it's reasonably easy to interpret and don't forget that this latest site seems to be written for idiots by total idiots who have no idea what they are writing about.