What are the legalities regarding towing an unroadworthy car

[njwc]

A couple of questions for the BiB

Some friends of mine are thinking of buying an A-Frame towbar like this one - click here, because its cheaper than a trailer and doesn't need the space for storage.

Where do they stand if the car they are towing is not road legal ?

They're thinking specifically of towing a car to and from a trackday with slick tyres fitted to it, but it could apply to other circumstances such as to and from a workshop etc. Can they be prosecuted for this or does the fact that the car is being towed excuse them ?

Also, I have a feeling that the towed car will be 'unmanned', but is this legal for this kind of towbar ?

To keep things simple let's assume that all other aspects of the tow are legal, i.e they have a light board, aren't over the towng limit for the towcar etc etc etc.

[justinp1]

As a guess i would say it would have to be, only on the fact that the huge majority of cars that are being towed are unroadworthy for some reason anyway thus it being a necessity that they are towed!?

[cooperman]

I think that if all 4 wheels are in contact with the road, even on an 'A-Frame' then the vehicle has to be fully road-legal, taxed and insured. If it's on a towing dolly with the front wheels in a cradle then, so long as the tyres on the rear of the towed vehicle have road-legal tread then it's OK at the dolly legally makes the rig into a trailer.
The best thing is a proper trailer to avoid any risk.

[GreenV8S]

As far as I understand it, you can legally tow a vehicle using rope, rigid bar, A frame etc in an emergency to move it to a place of safety as long as it has a driver in. If you remove the driver the car then becomes a trailer which has to comply with the corresponding regs. Regardless of whether it is considered a car or a trailor, the tyres would need to be road legal. Slicks touching the road aren't going to be legal under any circumstances. You could always swap it onto road legal wheels for towing, this needn't be a problem. The main sticking point is that trailers over 500 Kgs have to be braked, and most tow bar / A frame systems don't provide braking. (I've seen adverts for an A frame system that claimed to be braked, but I haven't figured out how they work. Presumably they would need some sort of mechanical connection to the brake system on the towed car.) On the practical side, your tow bar / A frame won't do you any good if your track car is damaged. Towing a car on soft track day tyres will wreck the tyres. On most cars, towing the car more than a few miles or at more than 30 mph or so with the transmission connected will trash the gearbox (the oil pump is normally driven off the input shaft).

All in all it's probably not a practical proposition unless you live next door to the track.

>> Edited by GreenV8S on Tuesday 2nd May 13:36

[njwc]

Thanks everyone