Will UK have to be registered for entry to the E.U
Will Uk caravans have to be registered for travel in the EU after 29th March 2018? "The 1968 Convention on Road Traffic, which the UK has ratified as part of our preparations for
leaving the EU, will come into force in March 2019, allows contracting parties (including more than
20 EU member states) to deny entry to unregistered trailers. The UK does not currently have a
mandatory trailer registration scheme in place and there have been ongoing problems with
enforcement agencies in some EU Member States blocking and fining unaccompanied UK trailers
(UK trailers being towed by a non-UK tractor unit) as they are not registered under an official UK
registration scheme. There will be greater scope for enforcement action against the users of UK
trailers after the Convention comes into force. Under the Convention’s terms, access to foreign
roads is only guaranteed for registered motor vehicles and trailers and contracting parties are
permitted to undertake enforcement action against unregistered trailers. Accordingly, UK
Government intervention is required to ensure that UK trailers can meet the registration standards in
the Convention and continue to use the road networks across Europe without disruption."
Comments
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When I was pulled over for a vehicle inspection in Holland earlier this year....and subsequently fined for incorrect attachment of the breakaway cable ( see ongoing thread re appeal )....I was asked for the caravan test and registration documents in addition to the tow car MOT and V5....
As part of the ongoing appeal..we have discovered that generally the Police and Vehicle inspectors are not familiar with their own legislation...ie visitors from UK do not have to have caravans registered separately.
FYI...latest extension to the appeal by the Openbaar Ministerie is due to expire December 20 when I should have a decision on the 107€ fine...
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Why worry ? If when we leave the European governments wish to add obstacles, we should surely be able to score a draw. Do we not notice just how many European and how few UK registered lorries are on the docks when returning from our travels. I'd wager for every hundred that bring in goods more than 50% go back empty.
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Why should it be a problem? On German autobahns many of the artic units that you see consist of a tractor registered in one country and the semitrailer in another. It makes it so much easier for the haulage companies to mix and match.
Currently, a vehicle registered on the Continent would not be able to tow a UK trailer because the trailer would not automatically be covered by third party insurance, as is the case in the UK. The trailer would also not have a number plate. It can't have the same number plate as the towing vehicle as the number plate is specific to each vehicle. Anyone towing a caravan with the same number plate on the caravan as on the car would be guilty of fraudulent use of a number plate.
However, the opposite is quite possible. A UK registered car can tow a caravan registered elsewhere.
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If a Continental driver were to receive a charge on the basis of a traffic offence which linked a caravan with the number plate of his car, he could claim having nothing to do with the committed offence because the two don't match and he doesn't know anything about a caravan.
To swap trailers on the Continent you don't need to do anything.
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The legislation referred to clearly states it is about unaccompanied HGV trailers and non commercial trailers over 3500Kg. As our 2 berth Swift is a tad under that I shall not worry.
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Of course carefully reading the whole of the legislation that you have quoted may give you the definitive answer
Or leave you even more confused.
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Thank you to all who responded. My question concerned touring caravans which the eagle eyed quite rightly spotted are not covered in the legislation given by way of example. I should have made it clear that small trailers including caravans are registered separately in other E.U. member states and that the example given only applies to commercial trailers over 750kgs and non commercial over 3500kgs. The point is touring caravans are not covered: so my question still stands. I am sure that quoting from Dad's Army will be of great assistance when your caravan is seized because it does not comply with the law! Perhaps Captain Mainwaring who was more concerned with keeping 'Johnny Foreigner' out rather than foreign travel should read a bit more. I was hoping that this would be picked up by the club so that they can ensure that the Government addresses this question with more than the blanket advice given here https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/how-to-prepare-if-the-uk-leaves-the-eu-with-no-deal
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Perhaps contacting the club directly and asking for their opinion might resolve your query.
The forum is populated in the main by ordinary members who have no more information than is available to you and they probably don’t appreciate the sarcastic references.
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It was only a few years ago that the UK opted out of EU regulations requiring the likes of caravans and small trailers to be registered in their own right. The rational put forward by the Government was that there was no infrastructure in place to action the regulation and to set it up new would be disproportionately expensive for both the Government and the owners of such vehicles. I would have thought the automatic fallback requirement would be that if it is legal in the country of origin it will remain legal in other countries providing such vehicles are only imported for short periods like a holiday. The whole point surely is that it is accepted by the EU now why would it not be acceptable if in the end we leave the EU?
David
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Because we will no longer be members and they will apply rules as they see fit. Quite understandable.
And we have not actually ratified the Vienna Convention yet....
However, this makes interesting reading:
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I have never quite understood why we, as a country, have never (until soon seemingly) ratified the Vienna Convention? When they say a voluntary system of registration I wonder if that could be an extension of the CRIS documentation would work? Hopefully life for us motorhomers will be slightly less complicated.
David
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Technically you can park a caravan on a road as long as it doesn't cause an obstruction and complies with LA rules, lighting and parked direction etc.
So the reason why we don't have to register a caravan as they do in the EU is still a bit of an anomaly although it saves a lot of paper work.
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That government document is dated March. Have we ratified the Vienna Convention yet?
Perhaps they're too busy re-enacting "Allo, Allo" .
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To park a UK caravan on its own a public road on the Continent you must have separate third party insurance, independent of that covering the towcar. Every vehicle on a public road over there must have its own third party insurance.
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