Towing regulation for caravans

Dickdastardly1
Dickdastardly1 Forum Participant Posts: 153
100 Comments
edited August 2016 in Towcars & Towing #1

The maximum length for a trailer towed by a vehicle weighing up to 3,500kg is 7 metres. This length does not include the A-frame.

Any caravans longer than 7 metres need a heavier vehicle.

I am pretty sure there are caravanners towing who are not aware of this dep't of transport reg.......

Comments

  • SteveL
    SteveL Club Member Posts: 12,303 ✭✭✭
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    edited August 2016 #2

    I would be interested to know where this information came from. There cannot be many "normal" tow vehicles over 3.5 tonnes. It would also mean that a significant proportion of the caravaning community is driving illegally. Ours is 7.34 including the A frame.

  • SteveL
    SteveL Club Member Posts: 12,303 ✭✭✭
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    edited August 2016 #4

    Just read it again and  possibly misunderstood. Are you saying that if my caravan was 7.01 long but had a short A frame so it's total length was 7.34, I would be towing illegally with my XTrail?

  • Dickdastardly1
    Dickdastardly1 Forum Participant Posts: 153
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    edited August 2016 #5

    excluding the "A" frame

  • Dickdastardly1
    Dickdastardly1 Forum Participant Posts: 153
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    edited August 2016 #6

    excluding the "A" frame, if your caravan is 7.01 metres then you need a tow vehicle over 3500kgs..

    https://www.gov.uk/towing-with-car/car-towing-weight-and-width-limits

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,142 ✭✭✭
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    edited August 2016 #7

    It's 7m body length, Steve. 

    Of course there are towing vehicles over 3500kg. You see hundreds on the roads every day. 

    I thought that law was common knowledge. It's certainly been discussed on here before. 

  • SteveL
    SteveL Club Member Posts: 12,303 ✭✭✭
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    edited August 2016 #8

    It's 7m body length, Steve. 

    Of course there are towing vehicles over 3500kg. You see hundreds on the roads every day. 

    I thought that law was common knowledge. It's certainly been discussed on here before. 

    Thanks TW it probably has and I forgot. I would assume however from the caravan point of view, not many are going to be on the market that fall outside of the law?

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,142 ✭✭✭
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    edited August 2016 #9

    It's 7m body length, Steve. 

    Of course there are towing vehicles over 3500kg. You see hundreds on the roads every day. 

    I thought that law was common knowledge. It's certainly been discussed on here before. 

    Thanks TW it probably has and I forgot. I would assume however from the caravan point of view, not many are going to be on the market that fall outside of the law?

    Not standard UK built holiday tourers but there will be some 'special' jobs around. 

  • EasyT
    EasyT Forum Participant Posts: 16,194
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    edited August 2016 #10
  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,142 ✭✭✭
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    edited August 2016 #11

    Bailey Retreat Willow id 7.3m internal length 

    http://cdn.csuk-solutions.net/uploads/f1/5579883-bailey-retreat-exclusive-video-preview-1.gif

    As I said - some specials. Those Baileys were marketed as semi-statics and the need to have them moved by a vehicle over 3500kg was publicised by the company. 

  • EasyT
    EasyT Forum Participant Posts: 16,194
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    edited August 2016 #12

    Indeed they were. They could probably have kept them at 7m with little problem but as they were also over width as I remember here would have been little point. The one I looked at out of curiosity was obviouslt wrongly plated as the plate gave a miro of 1,000 kg ROFL

  • SteveL
    SteveL Club Member Posts: 12,303 ✭✭✭
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    edited August 2016 #13

    Does seem an odd regulation though as it is looking totally at length, rather than length and weight. So you could have a trailer less than 7m body length that would require a heavy vehicle to tow it because of its overall weight. Or you could have one over
    7m that would be within the weight limit for a vehicle less than 3.5 tonnes but would have to be towed by one, due to its length. Ah well I suppose they try their best, it is difficult to cover everything with a simple regulation.??

  • commeyras
    commeyras Club Member Posts: 1,853 ✭✭✭
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    edited August 2016 #14

    This has already been discussed this week in the Towcars section!

  • TimJim
    TimJim Forum Participant Posts: 162
    edited August 2016 #15

    The maximum length for a trailer towed by a vehicle weighing up to 3,500kg is 7 metres. This length does not include the A-frame.

    Any caravans longer than 7 metres need a heavier vehicle.

    I am pretty sure there are caravanners towing who are not aware of this dep't of transport reg.......

    Is this post just another test of caravanners knowledge or lack of it ?.........along with nose weights..mtplm...arrival times..speed limits etc

    Tj

  • NutsyH
    NutsyH Forum Participant Posts: 534
    edited August 2016 #16

    It's 7m body length, Steve. 

    Of course there are towing vehicles over 3500kg. You see hundreds on the roads every day. 

    I thought that law was common knowledge. It's certainly been discussed on here before. 

    Write your comments here...Be interested to know what vehicles you consider to be over 3500kg? Other than commercial vehicles of course. You will struggle to find any 4 x 4 much over 2500kg. Are you mixing up the trailer towing weight limit with the vehicle
    weight?

  • Wildwood
    Wildwood Club Member Posts: 3,581 ✭✭✭✭
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    edited August 2016 #17

    Does seem an odd regulation though as it is looking totally at length, rather than length and weight. So you could have a trailer less than 7m body length that would require a heavy vehicle to tow it because of its overall weight. Or you could have one over
    7m that would be within the weight limit for a vehicle less than 3.5 tonnes but would have to be towed by one, due to its length. Ah well I suppose they try their best, it is difficult to cover everything with a simple regulation.??

    Common sense and the law often have very little in common.

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,142 ✭✭✭
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    edited August 2016 #18

    It's 7m body length, Steve. 

    Of course there are towing vehicles over 3500kg. You see hundreds on the roads every day. 

    I thought that law was common knowledge. It's certainly been discussed on here before. 

    Write your comments here...Be interested to know what vehicles you consider to be over 3500kg? Other than commercial vehicles of course. You will struggle to find any 4 x 4 much over 2500kg. Are you mixing up the trailer towing weight limit with the vehicle weight?

    I'm not mixing anything up, Nuts. The law refers to all vehicles towing anything - not just 4x4s with caravans. Therefore, commercial vehicles are included in the law and most are over 3500kg so they are permitted to tow trailers in excess of 7m. That is exactly what I refer to.

  • bydandie
    bydandie Forum Participant Posts: 7
    edited September 2016 #19

    Has anyone been pinged for this? I'd imagine that most dual axles (including mine) fall into this and my kerb weight is 1668 kg.

  • EmilysDad
    EmilysDad Forum Participant Posts: 8,973
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    edited September 2016 #20

    Has anyone been pinged for this? I'd imagine that most dual axles (including mine) fall into this and my kerb weight is 1668 kg.

    7m BODY length, not shipping length Wink

  • Wildwood
    Wildwood Club Member Posts: 3,581 ✭✭✭✭
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    edited September 2016 #21

    Most twin axles are built to be just under the 7 m length limit so should not be a problem.

  • Malcolm Mehta
    Malcolm Mehta Forum Participant Posts: 5,660
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    edited September 2016 #22

    Ours is 7.92 metres long.

  • Lutz
    Lutz Forum Participant Posts: 1,564 ✭✭✭✭
    edited September 2016 #23

    Ours is 7.92 metres long.

    Body length?

  • Malcolm Mehta
    Malcolm Mehta Forum Participant Posts: 5,660
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    edited September 2016 #24

    Ours is 7.92 metres long.

    Body length?

    Write your comments here...No, overall length.