Towing in a car that has no Gross Train Weight

fwor

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81948948#Comment_81948948

Thanks, but I can find any number of places online that tell me that I can't.

What I want to know is: When the DVSA pull me over and prohibit me from continuing my journey and issue 6 points on my licence, what UK law will they quote? They are not (I suspect) going to point me at the Towbarexpress website.

I should add that I have looked at Construction and Use 1988 (amended) and I can't find anything obvious, but that document is very very hard going…

paul_c123

Road Traffic Act 1988 41 (2) (f)

Car_54

How about Section 40A(d) of the Road Traffic Act 1988?:

A person is guilty of an offence if he uses, or causes or permits another to use, a motor vehicle or trailer on a road when—

(d)the weight, position or distribution of its load, or the manner in which it is secured,

is such that the use of the motor vehicle or trailer involves a danger of injury to any person

If you can find multiple sources saying you mustn't tow, then I imagine the DVSA (or police) could easily do the same.

Nebulous2

I think you could have more problems than what the police will charge you with.

For example, my insurance policy under a section headed "Your obligations to us"

states:-

"You must use your vehicle’s equipment in accordance with the manufacturers’ instructions, such as electric charging cables and tow bars"

fwor

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81949043#Comment_81949043

The problem with that is that if the towbar is TUV approved to use for towing in Germany, would there be any reason to suppose that it is unsafe to use in the UK? I should add that UK and German versions of the car are exactly the same - in neither case do they have a GTW.

But I accept Nebulous2's point that if it invalidates your insurance cover, then you would be guilty of driving without valid insurance.

fwor

Thanks for all of the replies - I'm a bit surprised, because I had expected it to be laid out in black and white in UK law somewhere, but it seems not.

Perhaps that leaves the door open for a future change such as that which applies in (at least come of) Europe, that has allowed towing to be permitted under a specific set of circumstances, even with no defined GTW.

teaselMay

What car is it?

Mildly_Miffed

If there's no GTW on the VIN plate, then GTW defaults to the same as GVW. The car+trailer cannot weigh more than the car itself is allowed to weigh.

If there's a type-approved bar available, then you can tow up to the bar's weight limit and noseweight, but not more than the GTW (=GVW in this case).

Towbars, of course, can be used for bike racks etc as well as towing a trailer.

I would suggest CU50 - "Causing or likely to cause danger by reason of load or passengers" - would be the appropriate licence code, as in most other cases of overloaded vehicles.

Ectophile

There's also the Construction and Use Regulations to consider. Maybe section 80, but it doesn't make much sense.

forgotmyname

Lots of cars have towbar mountings or towbars available but not suitable for towing because the floorpan is
also used on other models that are suitable for towing.

Thinking back I was going to buy a Mondeo ST220, an excellent towcar I would have thought but that was not
type approved for towing even though it used the same floorpan as the standard Mondeo. It costs the
manufacturer to put cars through the regulations and because they were not going to sell that many it was
not cost effective to type approve them for towing.

No gross train weight it's not type approved.