Is my towing setup legal?

[Uber_Beluga]

I'm soon to buy a car transport trailer for track days.
The laws seem to be murky, so I'm looking for some opinions regarding the legality of my (soon to be) towing setup.

License: I received my license well after 1997 so according to gov.uk I can "tow a trailer as long as the combined MAM of the trailer and towing vehicle is no more than 3,500kg"

Tow Vehicle: MK7 Translit FWD with a plated max towable mass of 1600KG

Trailer: Will be either 1500KG or 1600KG gross weight (Potentially this "LWT-102")

Load: NA MX5 weighing just under 1000KG



So, by my logic I should be find from a legality standpoint, but I'd love to hear some other opinions.

Edited by Uber_Beluga on Monday 21st December 22:31

Edited by Uber_Beluga on Monday 21st December 22:32

[andya7]

MAM is the permissible max of the vehicle and load, so I’m guessing a Mk7 Transit is 3.5t (?). Doesn’t matter if you are carrying 0kg load, or 1350kg (if that is what it can do?) the MAM remains the same.

So, if you stick a trailer on a ‘3.5t van’ the you will be over the 3.5t limit for your licence.

The opportunity to tow without a licence upgrade is minimal, unfortunately, however you can get a Caterham in the back of a Sprinter/Fiat/etc. and not have to tow and be under the MAM of the van... use the outside lane and drive at 70...

(waits to be told I’m wrong )

[blank]

You need to add the MAM of the Transit (probably 3,200 kg or something?) so it will be over 3,500 kg, so you'll need the B+E licence.

[SlowAndDull]

One option is buying a beavertail transit, so long as it’s plated to 3.5t. It’s less useful for transporting anything much larger than your track car, but if you have space to store one it gives you a simple solution. Probably more expensive than doing the B+E test though (I have no idea what that costs)!

[handpaper]

My guess would be no.
The 'combined MAM of the trailer and towing vehicle' is the trailer max gross plus the vehicle max gross. This might also be limited by the vehicle MAM (which will be on the VIN plate)
According to Parkers, your van has a minimum max gross weight of 2900kg; added to your trailer max gross of ~1500kg gives a MAM of 4400kg, well over your 3500kg limit.

[300bhp/ton]

Uber_Beluga said:

I'm soon to buy a car transport trailer for track days.
The laws seem to be murky, so I'm looking for some opinions regarding the legality of my (soon to be) towing setup.

License: I received my license well after 1997 so according to gov.uk I can "tow a trailer as long as the combined MAM of the trailer and towing vehicle is no more than 3,500kg"

Tow Vehicle: MK7 Translit FWD with a plated max towable mass of 1600KG

Trailer: Will be either 1500KG or 1600KG gross weight (Potentially this "LWT-102")

Load: NA MX5 weighing just under 1000KG



So, by my logic I should be find from a legality standpoint, but I'd love to hear some other opinions.

Edited by Uber_Beluga on Monday 21st December 22:31

Edited by Uber_Beluga on Monday 21st December 22:32

I suspect not.

You need to find the MAM for your vehicle, plus its tow rating. Obviously you can't exceed the low rating. And I'm suspecting the MAM will be high enough that on your licence you'll only be able to tow a 750kg MAM trailer.

You may also want to check the weight of your MX-5, I think only some early ones were really under 1000kg, most are over.

If you don't want to take your tow test, something like a Freelander 1 should allow you to tow a trailer of approx 1400kg MAM and the Freelander can tow up to 2000kg.

There is a single axle Brian James car transporter that would just about allow a 1 tonne payload with the trailer weighing in at 400kg.

[poppopbangbang]

Not a chance unfortunately as the transit is 3.5T MAM on its own, as pointed out above.

Best option if you want a Van/Trailer and track car combo on a post 97 licence is a SWB Mk3 VW Caddy which has a GVM of 2160KG and a 1500KG towing capacity with a Lider 39750 trailer. That totals up to a MAM of 3460KG - the Lider trailer will carry 950KG so if you have a Caterham, Jedi, MK, FR2.0 etc. etc. you can get sensible spares and fuel in there too and still be under the limit.

There are very few good options that will get you under 3.5KG with a trailer on the back unfortunately.

[R0G]

The plated GVW of your MK7 transit is ???? kg
The plated MAM of your trailer is ???? kg
Add the two together
If the total is more than 3500 then you cannot tow on your B licence

GVW / MAM / MTPLM all mean the same thing which is the max something can be when fully loaded

[youngricharduk]

R0G said:

The plated GVW of your MK7 transit is ???? kg
The plated MAM of your trailer is ???? kg
Add the two together
If the total is more than 3500 then you cannot tow on your B licence

GVW / MAM / MTPLM all mean the same thing which is the max something can be when fully loaded

Unless the trailer is less than 750kg (obviously unlikely) then technically the total could be 4250kg. So he could tow a very small trailer with the transit at 3500kg MAM.

[BlueMeganeII]

If you’re happy towing that kind of arrangement just go and do the test, it’s not difficult and a few tuition lessons will get you through it. Same for going up to 7.5 tonne - c1.

[EW109]

I did the B+E ten years ago. With some lessons -- from which I actually learnt useful stuff about towing -- it is not difficult.

There are loads of places doing B+E training so there is bound to be one local to you.

[Uber_Beluga]

Thanks for all the help guys!

Disappointing, but makes sense now.

I think B+E is going to be the only sensible option unless I change to a smaller, lighter car down the line.
I can't find anywhere within a couple hours that does the test and they're not cheap. Still, I'll plan it in for the future sometime.

For now, I'll just make the little MX5 carry itself to the track and stick to summer only.

[edd1e]

I towed a trailer with a lwb crafter some years ago. Like you, I assumed as long as the total weight was under 3500kgs I'd be ok. I was stopped by Gloucestershire 50 who informed me that it's the total potential weight of car & trailer that is taken into account. Ie 3500 for the van + 2000 with the trailer). with our post 97 licences, we can't tow anything (except possibly those tiny trailers people use to take to the tip). I got 6 points for driving otherwise in accordance with a licence, so it's taken quite seriously.

[paintman]

edd1e said:

I towed a trailer with a lwb crafter some years ago. Like you, I assumed as long as the total weight was under 3500kgs I'd be ok. I was stopped by Gloucestershire 50 who informed me that it's the total potential weight of car & trailer that is taken into account. Ie 3500 for the van + 2000 with the trailer). with our post 97 licences, we can't tow anything (except possibly those tiny trailers people use to take to the tip). I got 6 points for driving otherwise in accordance with a licence, so it's taken quite seriously.

Not true, but the weights can make it difficult for someone who isn't up on what's permitted to work it out. ROG's thread at the top of the page covers it.
I do a fair bit of work for a caravan dealer & they sell a lot of caravans to post 97 licence holders but they do ask first & then check the manufacturer's weight figure of their car to be able to advise the max weight of caravan to stay legal.

[HughG]

There are some combinations that work on a B license for that sort of thing, not much help with the van though.

I had a Seat Exeo 2.0tdi SE, GVW 1990kg. Max trailer weight 1800kg.
I used it to tow rowing boats, and on occasion borrowed a Brian James Clubman 100-200 with a MAM of 1380kg and a capacity of 1000kg.

[BertBert]

Not to mention your licence