Need help with weight

[Deanxm]

I think you understood before I butted in lol
On a B licence -
You cannot drive a plated (commercial) vehicle with a GVW above 3.5t
You cannot drive any combination of vehicle and trailer that weighs over 3.5t
You cannot tow a trailer that's maximum permitted loaded weight is over 750kg

So the short of it is you can drive your 3.5t gvw van and pull a trailer but the trailer must not have a MAM of more than 750kg and the total weight of the trailer and van can be no more than 3.5t all up if you get stopped and weighed

D

[Paulwhalley]

Ahh now that's made sense, thanks for that so now I know what I need to look for.


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[Deanxm]

In all honesty it would be best to upgrade to a B+E licence and tow with a car in the ideal world as your going to be sailing pretty close to the wind driving a vehicle trailer combo that is capable of exceeding the limits of your licence if you put too much stuff in it and you will be attracting attention, dvsa are hot on the van and trailer combo's at the moment trying to snare people who should be running tacho's and those like yourself who could be loaded correctly for the vehicle and trailer but above weight for their class of licence, just be careful.

D

[Paulwhalley]

Yea I've looked in to doing the b+e but to do that you need a vehicle that has good visibility all round so the vans out of the question and the mrs has a 206 that I can't really fit in and a 1.4 I don't feel will have enough guts to do any towing


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[Deanxm]

Fair doo's, you also can't tow something that weighs more than the towing vehicle so the 206 may be a little bit fun lol
most driving instructors will use their own vehicle and trailer for you to learn/take the test in so its worth looking round.

D

[Paulwhalley]

Yea not got long tho going to Dorset for the steam fair that's about 2 months and don't want to tent again lol


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[daviemck2006]

The rules quoted are not how I understand them. A cat B licence allows you to tow a trailer with a maximum weight no higher than the towing vehicle, up to a max gross weight combined of 3.5 if you had a car max gross weight 2 ton you could tow max gross weight 1.5 ton. I would think if your van is a 290 that probably means the max gross weight of it will be 2.9 tons. That only leaves 600 kg you can tow. You will not find a caravan weighing much less than 1 ton laden.

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[Paulwhalley]

That's how I understood it when I looked it up online but then ringing Dvla the bloke said as long as I don't go over 3.5 I will be ok. So I'm going to ring them again tomorrow and see if I can clear this up


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[Deanxm]

No this is incorrect, without passing a trailer test and adding an E class to your driving licence you are very much limited to a trailer of 750kg MAM, if you hold a C ( not a restricted C1 licence that was given under grandfather rights) you are still limited to 750kg MAM even though you are allowed up to 7.5 tonnes, this means as a C licence holder if you were driving this guys van the trailer must still not exceed 750kg MAM but you WOULD be able to load the 3.5t panel van to its maximum gvw whilst towing said trailer (as long as you didn't exceed any of the vehicles plkated weights obviously) because although you can run up to a gvw of 7.5t you are limited by the maximum trailer weight you can tow.
As a C1 licence holder you would be in the same boat driving a 7.5t truck pulling a trailer with a MAM of 750kg, your gtw still cannot exceed your 7.5t limit as determined by your licence and you are still limited to a 750kg MAM trailer.

D

[Deanxm]

That's how I understood it when I looked it up online but then ringing Dvla the bloke said as long as I don't go over 3.5 I will be ok. So I'm going to ring them again tomorrow and see if I can clear this up


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This is correct ( posted too late, didnt want to cause confusion) but again you cannot exceed 3.5t gtw and you cannot tow a trailer over 750kg MAM either

D

[Paulwhalley]

Thanks looks like the test is in order then bloody stupid rules and regulations I drive tractors and trailers most of the week but I can't pull a bloody caravan that weighs 5x less than the tractor and vacuum tanker


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[Deanxm]

That's the problem with Acts, they are unfair!.
We all know where we stand with a good old fashion law lol.

Edit: at least if you drive agricultural vehicles all the time you will breeze the test, its just the inconvenience and having to fork out the dosh for it.

D

[Paulwhalley]

Yea it is an inconvenience as I'm trying to do it on a budget luckily my insurance automatically covers me for towing so no cost there. Now if I decide to go and do the test do I have to drive like I was on my real driving test ie 10&2 with the hands on the wheel or what ever it was or is it a bit more relaxed I would find it hard reversing like that as I use my palm on the tractor


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[daviemck2006]

If they really want a test for trailers or I should say a law for trailers then they should make it simple. No test no trailer, end of. The rules are open to different interpretations. If the op sits a trailer test can he then tow a 1.5 ton trailer with his 2.9 ton van? Or is he still limited to 3.5 ton gross? It all seems a bit weird to me. As a caravanner for many years it would be much better for cars and light vans if the law was no trailers heavier than the tow car. I once towed my friends big twin axle caravan with a rover 216. The van was much heavier than the car, but within the cars quoted towing weight. It was scary! I've towed a stock car on a trailer behind an astra 1.3, it was scary also. That was when I was young and stupid lol. I'm not young now and reserve judgement on stupid, and I would not entertain towing a trailer heavier than the car, in fact with my last caravan towed by my 2003 c5 2.2 hdi I was running at 83% That was an easy tow.

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[Paulwhalley]

I no I can't quite get my head round it so I'm going to ring round tomorrow and if Dvla tell me the same as they did today I'm going to get them to email it and then I can keep it in the van so if there are any problems I can produce the email or at least that's what I'm hoping


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