Towing law to change

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wheelnut
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Towing law to change

Post by wheelnut »

From autumn, you no longer have to take a test to tow a trailer or caravan.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/new-rules-f ... utumn-2021

Idea is to free up testers to do LGV tests.
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Re: Towing law to change

Post by demographic »

Good to know.
Not that it affects me as I bave a decent sized van and have no interest in a caravan but it affects people around me.
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Re: Towing law to change

Post by Le_Fromage_Grande »

It doesn't effect grown ups
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Re: Towing law to change

Post by KungFooBob »

I was hoping this was going to mention something about people who passed after 1997 being able to drive stuff over 3500kg... so I can get me a bigger motorhome.

I'm stuck at 3500kg, unless I take the C test.

It does mean I can tow a nice big trailer or even a small car with the current motorhome tho'
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Re: Towing law to change

Post by Le_Fromage_Grande »

KungFooBob wrote: Sat Sep 11, 2021 8:56 am I was hoping this was going to mention something about people who passed after 1997 being able to drive stuff over 3500kg... so I can get me a bigger motorhome.

I'm stuck at 3500kg, unless I take the C test.

It does mean I can tow a nice big trailer or even a small car with the current motorhome tho'
Should've passed your test when you could drive manly vehicles on a car license

When I started at BT despite having passed my car test a year before I'd not driven a car much, within a few weeks of starting the keys of a class C Dodge were thrown at me and I was told to drive it, turns out it was pretty easy.
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Re: Towing law to change

Post by KungFooBob »

I passed my bike test in 1997 at the age of 17.... it was more of a priority than a car for me and I couldn't afford to do both.
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Re: Towing law to change

Post by Mr. Dazzle »

I was 13 in 1997 :D

I could tow a bike trailer with my current car but that's probably about it. Well actually I could only tow it forwards, I've never even tried to reverse with a trailer. Not had the opportunity....
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Re: Towing law to change

Post by Le_Fromage_Grande »

Mr. Dazzle wrote: Sat Sep 11, 2021 12:11 pm I was 13 in 1997 :D

I could tow a bike trailer with my current car but that's probably about it. Well actually I could only tow it forwards, I've never even tried to reverse with a trailer. Not had the opportunity....
I was 30

I didn't tow anything until 20 years after I passed my car test, and still can't reverse a car with a trailer, weirdly I was quite happy with reversing an articulated HGV at work when they let me have a quick go.
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Re: Towing law to change

Post by Mussels »

I find small unbraked trailers really awkward to reverse, even a 1 ton trailer is a lot easier.
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Re: Towing law to change

Post by David »

Short trailers are irreversible (see what I did there!) not least 'cos you cant see them.
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Re: Towing law to change

Post by KungFooBob »

I was oblivious to this restriction when I collected a Nissan PS13 Silvia from Southampton docks for a mate in my 406 with a hired car trailer.

Was probably the first time I'd towed and had no idea what I was doing... I missed the dock gates and decided to do a u-turn in the station carpark.

What a mistake to make!

Ended up having to pop the trailer off, manoeuvre it by hand and connecting it all back up to pull out.
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Re: Towing law to change

Post by Yorick »

KungFooBob wrote: Sat Sep 11, 2021 7:03 pm I was oblivious to this restriction when I collected a Nissan PS13 Silvia from Southampton docks for a mate in my 406 with a hired car trailer.

Was probably the first time I'd towed and had no idea what I was doing... I missed the dock gates and decided to do a u-turn in the station carpark.

What a mistake to make!

Ended up having to pop the trailer off, manoeuvre it by hand and connecting it all back up to pull out.
When I had the trailer behind the 6.5m LMH, there was no way I could reverse. Always unhooked it and manhandled it ;)
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Re: Towing law to change

Post by Skub »

All that schitt has always been on my licence,not that I see the attraction of bloody caravans anyway.

All my cars used to have a towbar,but you get weary of being everyone's go to for moving stuff,so I eventually got rid of the trailer. Long trailers are fairly easy to manoeuvre,but little one's give you no time at all before they get out of shape. I used to have a single bike jobbie and it was a bitch at times.
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Re: Towing law to change

Post by Mr. Dazzle »

I've watched my Dad* reversing the caravan and car rig loads of times. Even with my pretty good grasp of geometry and what not I have no fucking idea how he does it :D He turns right, the van goes left, yet somehow it ends up in a space on his right. :think:

*64 years old driving a pale metallic Jag. So yeah, ticking a lot of boxes.
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Re: Towing law to change

Post by gremlin »

Tow a caravan?


How ghastly!
All aboard the Peckham Pigeon! All aboard!
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Re: Towing law to change

Post by Mr. Dazzle »

Is there some other way of propelling them?

Off a cliff, obviously. But other than that?
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Re: Towing law to change

Post by KungFooBob »

Shed draggin' is roobash, MoHo's FTW!
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Re: Towing law to change

Post by Mr. Dazzle »

You could go old school and drive a caravan of camels across the Sahara like a proper man.
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Re: Towing law to change

Post by the_priest »

I used to drive with 4 to 10 metre trailers... and reverse them down a steep windy road. Easy once you get the knack. Quite okay with towing as a result whether caravan or trailer.
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Re: Towing law to change

Post by Jody »

I recall buying a Supermoto complete with a trailer from somewhere near London. Hitched it on the back of my Sprinter and away I went. It was only when I got off the M5 at Portishead and went round a small roundabout that I was able to confirm it was still attached !