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

[Leptons]

Awesome, cheers. Amazed how much bad information is floating about. I mean they make you take the test but there’s nothing at all in there about weights and allowances etc.

[R0G]

Leptons said:

Hi, I think I’ve read so much into this subject now I’ve fried my own brain!

I’ve done B+E and now looking to buy a trailer. It’s mainly to tow the car to track days, tow vehicle will be my works Vivaro. The Max Train weight of this is 4790kg.
The Max Gross weight of the Vivaro is 2790kg

Because I’ve got B+E am I correct in thinking I could tow any trailer plated up to 3500kg as long as I don’t exceed The Maximum Gross Train weight of the Vivaro? I.e it goes off the actual weight of the trailer and load rather than the Plated weight of the trailer?

TIA

Max actual weight for the trailer and its load is LIKELY to be 2000 but the log book may say higher

[Too Late]

Quick question.

I would like to collect a car and tow it home on a trailer
I do not have a B+E on my licence.

My dad on the other hand has a B+E on his licence.

If I wanted to drive up there. Tow the car back on the trailer. Can I take my dad with me and put l plates on for it to be legal?

Got a 110 defender and looking to rent a large trailer for the day motorway and a roads mainly)

Thanks
Nick

[R0G]

Too Late said:

Quick question.

I would like to collect a car and tow it home on a trailer
I do not have a B+E on my licence.

My dad on the other hand has a B+E on his licence.

If I wanted to drive up there. Tow the car back on the trailer. Can I take my dad with me and put l plates on for it to be legal?

Got a 110 defender and looking to rent a large trailer for the day motorway and a roads mainly)

Thanks
Nick

Yes you can do that and DAD does not have to be insured unless he actually drives it

Make sure you inform your insurer that you are doing that = usually no extra cost

[jeremyc]

R0G said:

Too Late said:

Quick question.

I would like to collect a car and tow it home on a trailer
I do not have a B+E on my licence.

My dad on the other hand has a B+E on his licence.

If I wanted to drive up there. Tow the car back on the trailer. Can I take my dad with me and put l plates on for it to be legal?

Got a 110 defender and looking to rent a large trailer for the day motorway and a roads mainly)

Thanks
Nick

Yes you can do that and DAD does not have to be insured unless he actually drives it

Make sure you inform your insurer that you are doing that = usually no extra cost

But does he need 'L' plates when driving accompanied by Dad? I can only assume not.

If he does, then presumably they can't take the motorway route back with the 'L' plates on.

[R0G]

jeremyc said:

ut does he need 'L' plates when driving accompanied by Dad? I can only assume not.

If he does, then presumably they can't take the motorway route back with the 'L' plates on.

Yes he does need L plates when accompanied by DAD and can legally use the motorway using L plates

[S100HP]

what a minefield this is! I passed in 2000, have a 2007 XC70 D5.

Towing capacity according to this site is 1800kg, meaning I can tow a caravan up to 1700kg?

[R0G]

S100HP said:

what a minefield this is! I passed in 2000, have a 2007 XC70 D5.

Towing capacity according to this site is 1800kg, meaning I can tow a caravan up to 1700kg?

You need the TWO important figures -
GVW of vehicle
MAM of trailer

Need those two numbers to see if you can tow on a B licence (no B+E)

[Jimmy Recard]

R0G said:

You need the TWO important figures -
GVW of vehicle
MAM of trailer

Need those two numbers to see if you can tow on a B licence (no B+E)

I have B+E so I don't usually need to know this.

Am I right that for him as a B licence holder his limit is 3500-GVW of Volvo XC90?
(Assuming that this number is smaller than the towing capacity of the Volvo)

[R0G]

Jimmy Recard said:

I have B+E so I don't usually need to know this.

Am I right that for him as a B licence holder his limit is 3500-GVW of Volvo XC90?
(Assuming that this number is smaller than the towing capacity of the Volvo)

Lets say GVW of Volvo is 2500kg then the most the trailer/caravan etc can be plated at is 1000kg MAM / MTPLM / GVW

[Jimmy Recard]

R0G said:

Lets say GVW of Volvo is 2500kg then the most the trailer/caravan etc can be plated at is 1000kg MAM / MTPLM / GVW

Thanks, thought so. That's what I meant.


I get asked fairly often so I saw it as a chance to find out if I'm right with my advice

[Merry]

Thanks for all this info, really useful

Suspect I know the answer but I have just picked up a Outlander PHEV with a towbar and as such would like a trailer to tow my daft track cars about (a Reliant Ss1 and Mx5)

Now I know the Outlander has a towing capacity of 1500kg and a GVW of 2340kg.

By my reckoning (passed test post '97 no b+e) this means I can tow a braked trailer with a MAM of 1160kg. I'm guessing, therefore that no trailer exists that has that sort of MAM that can carry the vehicles I'm planning on carrying.

Am I right in thinking that and that I'll have to do a b+e?

[R0G]

Merry said:

Thanks for all this info, really useful

Suspect I know the answer but I have just picked up a Outlander PHEV with a towbar and as such would like a trailer to tow my daft track cars about (a Reliant Ss1 and Mx5)

Now I know the Outlander has a towing capacity of 1500kg and a GVW of 2340kg.

By my reckoning (passed test post '97 no b+e) this means I can tow a braked trailer with a MAM of 1160kg. I'm guessing, therefore that no trailer exists that has that sort of MAM that can carry the vehicles I'm planning on carrying.

Am I right in thinking that and that I'll have to do a b+e?

How heavy will the trailer load be?

[Merry]

R0G said:

How heavy will the trailer load be?

940kg for the Mazda, 839kg for the Scimitar

[R0G]

Merry said:

940kg for the Mazda, 839kg for the Scimitar

Deffo B+E needed or supervising driver who has it

[Merry]

R0G said:

Deffo B+E needed or supervising driver who has it

Thought as much. Looks like I'll be forking out or taking my dad to every track day!

Anyone know somewhere decent to do the training/test around Manchester?

[R0G]

Merry said:

Thought as much. Looks like I'll be forking out or taking my dad to every track day!

Anyone know somewhere decent to do the training/test around Manchester?

Best ones are usually LGV training schools who also do B+E

Never go through a broker always visit the trainer before paying any money

[300bhp/ton]

@ROG

Sorry if this is already answered in your thread somewhere.

I was researching towing just over a month ago as I was heading off doing some towing. Category B only license.

I can't find the webpages I was using, but documented the rules I found. I'm sure it was somewhere on the .gov site.

The main rules where:
-if the trailer is over 750kg, then the combined MAM of trailer and tow vehicle cannot exceed 3500kg
-the trailer MAM cannot exceed the unladen/kerb weight of the tow car

I built a spreadsheet with these formulas so I could check different vehicles and trailers.


However I've just been informed on another thread that the MAM of the trailer doesn't need to be less than the kerb weight of the tow vehicle anymore.

Are you able to confirm this?


The .gov site is a little light on info:

tow a trailer over 750kg MAM as long as the combined MAM of the trailer and towing vehicle is no more than 3,500kg
https://www.gov.uk/towing-with-car




For a practical comparison:

	Unladen	Tow Rating	GVW
Land Rover 88	1298	2000	2120

With the rule of the trailer MAM not exceeding the unladen weight, I got a tow figure of 1298kg

However without this rule the tow figure would now be 1380kg.

Is this correct?

Thanks.

[R0G]

in Jan 2013 that rule was revoked where it stated trailer MAM cannot exceed vehicle kerb weight

[R0G]

1380 is the max plated MAM / MTPLM for a trailer / caravan where the vehicle GVW is 2120 for B towing