Towing not road legal car on road with rope

[caelite]

Hey guys

Wondering what the legalities of towing a not road legal car on the road are, I know trailers are obviously legal but what is the legality of towing dollys where 2 wheels are still on the road, or a rope where all 4 wheels are on the road.

Basically the situation is: I need to get a SORNed, uninsured but MOTed (and running fine) car 5 miles down the road to my pals garage so I can use his vehicle lift, then tow it back. However niether of us have access to a trailer or a dolly for that matter, would I be commiting an offence if I chucked a rope on it and towed it with my Shogun?

Also I know some legal leeway is given to mechanics recovering vehicles, could this situation count as that?

Any advice is appreciated cheers
CAE

[Puddenchucker]

If any part of the vehicle is in contact with the highway it must be insured and taxed.

[Bomma220]

Puddenchucker said:

If any part of the vehicle is in contact with the highway it must be insured and taxed.

This. I did a fair bit of research into it when we had to move a car a few months back - the same rules re tax, insurance, mot etc apply to a car being towed as apply to a car being driven under its own power.

[SS2.]

Hire a trailer, or make a few calls and find a local recovery guy who'll do it for you.

Last time I needed a car trailered (about 6 miles), it cost me £50.

[TooMany2cvs]

Puddenchucker said:

If any part of the vehicle is in contact with the highway it must be insured and taxed.

This, with bells on.

Also remember that EVERY SINGLE trailer over 750kg maximum laden weight must have all roadwheels braked by the towing vehicle - so the only legal way to tow just about any car bigger than an Aixam/Ligier-style quadrilette on a bar, dolly, rope without having some kind of braking mechanism (they do exist) is for it to come under "emergency recovery" legislation. That means the towed car must be perfectly legal, but incapable of being driven - and there's severe restrictions on the maximum distance and speed.

[caelite]

Bomma220 said:

Puddenchucker said:

If any part of the vehicle is in contact with the highway it must be insured and taxed.

This. I did a fair bit of research into it when we had to move a car a few months back - the same rules re tax, insurance, mot etc apply to a car being towed as apply to a car being driven under its own power.

Alright thanks gents, ill need to just use my ramps.

[AlexRS2782]

SS2. said:

Hire a trailer, or make a few calls and find a local recovery guy who'll do it for you.

Last time I needed a car trailered (about 6 miles), it cost me £50.

I'd suggest this as well. A couple of years ago I needed to move my old Saxo VTS track car a couple of miles down the road for some work and it was minus MOT & on SORN at the time.

In the end I spoke to one of the local "scrap your car for £££" guys and he was happy to move the car for me for £25.

[nutsytvr]

TooMany2cvs said:

This, with bells on.

Also remember that EVERY SINGLE trailer over 750kg maximum laden weight must have all roadwheels braked by the towing vehicle - so the only legal way to tow just about any car bigger than an Aixam/Ligier-style quadrilette on a bar, dolly, rope without having some kind of braking mechanism (they do exist) is for it to come under "emergency recovery" legislation. That means the towed car must be perfectly legal, but incapable of being driven - and there's severe restrictions on the maximum distance and speed.

That's not quite correct. Roadwheels do not need to be operated by the towing vehicle at +750kg. An "overun" braking system as fitted to all caravans is perfectly legal

[4rephill]

AlexRS2782 said:

....A couple of years ago I needed to move my old Saxo VTS track car a couple of miles down the road for some work and it was minus MOT & on SORN at the time.

In the end I spoke to one of the local "scrap your car for £££" guys and he was happy to move the car for me for £25.

Always be careful what you ask for!:

[357RS]

TooMany2cvs said:

That means the towed car must be perfectly legal, but incapable of being driven - and there's severe restrictions on the maximum distance and speed.

Just for interest, what are those max distance and speed restrictions?

[AlexRS2782]

4rephill said:

Always be careful what you ask for!:

Thankfully the guy in my case was a single vehicle flatbead truck type setup. Considering the state of the car, courtesy of its previous owner, I probably should just have asked him to scrap it as I ended up stripping all the decent bits I fitted 18 months later and flogging the rolling shell on.

[QBee]

Hire a trailer for 24 hours - assuming you have a tow bar.
Just be aware that if you passed your test after 1997 you are limited to 3.5 tonnes all up, tow car, trailer and load.
Many big 4x4s are over two tonnes, a trailer is about 0.5 tonnes, so anything heavier than an Ariel Atom could take a younger driver over the weight limit. Also, it is inadvisable, and possibly illegal (I cannot remember) for the load + trailer to be heavier than the tow car.

[TooMany2cvs]

nutsytvr said:

TooMany2cvs said:

This, with bells on.

Also remember that EVERY SINGLE trailer over 750kg maximum laden weight must have all roadwheels braked by the towing vehicle - so the only legal way to tow just about any car bigger than an Aixam/Ligier-style quadrilette on a bar, dolly, rope without having some kind of braking mechanism (they do exist) is for it to come under "emergency recovery" legislation. That means the towed car must be perfectly legal, but incapable of being driven - and there's severe restrictions on their maximum distance and speed.

That's not quite correct. Roadwheels do not need to be operated by the towing vehicle at +750kg. An "overun" braking system as fitted to all caravans is perfectly legal

Yep. The tow vehicle brakes. The trailers wheels are all braked by the compression of the hitch.

[FiF]

nutsytvr said:

TooMany2cvs said:

This, with bells on.

Also remember that EVERY SINGLE trailer over 750kg maximum laden weight must have all roadwheels braked by the towing vehicle - so the only legal way to tow just about any car bigger than an Aixam/Ligier-style quadrilette on a bar, dolly, rope without having some kind of braking mechanism (they do exist) is for it to come under "emergency recovery" legislation. That means the towed car must be perfectly legal, but incapable of being driven - and there's severe restrictions on the maximum distance and speed.

That's not quite correct. Roadwheels do not need to be operated by the towing vehicle at +750kg. An "overun" braking system as fitted to all caravans is perfectly legal

Also schedule 3 of the Construction and Vehicles regs refers to the number of wheels which must be braked, in the case of a trailer with more than two wheels then at least two wheels must be braked.

Not sure the above poster said that the brakes had to be operated by the towing vehicle, he could have been referring to the type of A frame equipment which also has overrun equipment that applies the brakes of the towed vehicle to the required efficiency.