A-Frame Towing

[agentsmith]

hi all,

anyone know if you need seperate road insurance, MOT, and TAX to tow say a light Track Car using an A-Frame? (or is this a really bad idea? )

thanks a lot.

[gog440]

agentsmith said:

hi all,

anyone know if you need seperate road insurance, MOT, and TAX to tow say a light Track Car using an A-Frame? (or is this a really bad idea? )

thanks a lot.

I am sure a member of the plod will give you a definitive answer but in my experience they police dont like them very much and if you are towing regularly or a long way a trailer would be better (and a damn sight easier to tow)

[The Moose]

gog440 said:

I am sure a member of the plod will give you a definitive answer but in my experience they police dont like them very much and if you are towing regularly or a long way a trailer would be better (and a damn sight easier to tow)

Out of interest, why would it be easier to tow?

[MJK 24]

Needs to be taxed, insured and if applicable, MOT'd if any part of the vehicle being towed is touching the floor.

[andy-xr]

MJK 24 said:

Needs to be taxed, insured and if applicable, MOT'd if any part of the vehicle being towed is touching the floor.

You sure? (I'm not btw)

I thought it was more like if the car wasn't able to make decisions on direction/speed then it was fine without tax/MOT/insurance etc

[littleredrooster]

Unless you link into the towed car's brakes, it will become an unbraked trailer which has its own set of regs (and a world of pain). Even the recovery services don't use them much these days.

Edited by littleredrooster on Friday 28th October 23:16

[Jem0911]

As above.
Over 750KG total must be braked.
Not sure on MOT and rent.

[Glade]

I thought that they are only allowed to tow the car to a place of safety in an emergency. but i can't find a link to back that up now

General rules for towing...
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/DriverLicensi...

And something specifically about a-frames & dollies.

direct.gov.uk said:

Towing a car using an A-frame or dolly
If you attach an A-frame to a car in order to tow it with a larger vehicle, the car plus A-frame counts as a trailer.
If you use a dolly to tow a broken-down vehicle, the dolly counts as a trailer.
In both cases the usual safety regulations for trailers apply.

found here http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/DriverLicensi...

[Glade]

Ahh... pistonheads FAQ.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Dollies are only for emergency recovery, a-frames mean that the car effectively becomes a trailer and the trailer rules apply.

[agentsmith]

thanks for the wealth of knowledge folks! much appreciated.