Omega Owners Forum - licence for towing caravan

serek Omega Knight Offline Posts: 1178 huntingdon Gender: Drives: 3.2 ELITE IRMSCHERMANUAL LSD**	licence for towing caravan 08. Aug 2011 at 12:20 as above what sort of car licence I need for towing caravan ?? I pass my test on 1999 and have got B on it
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Andy B

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Re: licence for towing caravan
Reply #1 - 08. Aug 2011 at 12:26

serek wrote on 08. Aug 2011 at 12:20:

as above what sort of car licence I need for towing caravan ??
I pass my test on 1999 and have got B on it

Depends on the size of the caravan you want to tow. As long as the gross train weight is less than 3500kg you can tow the caravan on your licence. But as I passed my test 30 odd years ago I've never really studied it all in detail. Undecided

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Guffer

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Re: licence for towing caravan
Reply #2 - 08. Aug 2011 at 12:34

Andy B wrote on 08. Aug 2011 at 12:26:

serek wrote on 08. Aug 2011 at 12:20:

as above what sort of car licence I need for towing caravan ??
I pass my test on 1999 and have got B on it

Depends on the size of the caravan you want to tow. As long as the gross train weight is less than 3500kg you can tow the caravan on your licence. But as I passed my test 30 odd years ago I've never really studied it all in detail. Undecided

I thought the trailer had to be no more than 750kg on a B? Above which I thought you needed B+E. I could be wrong though Undecided

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Andy B

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Re: licence for towing caravan
Reply #3 - 08. Aug 2011 at 12:36

Guffer wrote on 08. Aug 2011 at 12:34:

Andy B wrote on 08. Aug 2011 at 12:26:

serek wrote on 08. Aug 2011 at 12:20:

as above what sort of car licence I need for towing caravan ??
I pass my test on 1999 and have got B on it

Depends on the size of the caravan you want to tow. As long as the gross train weight is less than 3500kg you can tow the caravan on your licence. But as I passed my test 30 odd years ago I've never really studied it all in detail. Undecided

I thought the trailer had to be no more than 750kg on a B? Above which I thought you needed B+E. I could be wrong though Undecided

Wait till Nige gets back from holiday. He knows all about MPTW, kerb weights, gross weights etc etc.
Your answer is far too simplistic though. Wink

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Andy B

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Re: licence for towing caravan
Reply #4 - 08. Aug 2011 at 12:50

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/DriverLicensing/CaravansTrailersCommercialV...

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/DriverLicensing/WhatCanYouDriveAndYourOblig...

Some info here, but it's all very confusing what you can & can't tow. Also it's not the actual weight of the trailer that counts, it's the Max Authorised Weight that counts. So you could have the rediculous situation that if you towed an empty car trailer weighing 1 ton but a MAM of 2.5 ton and then towed it with a car with a kerb weight of 2 ton you're over the 3.5 ton limit because of what the trailer could have carried. To me, that's like prosecuting a driver of speeding because his car could do 150 mph Huh

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Guffer Omega Lord Offline Music to watch girls by.... Posts: 6142 Hampshire Gender: Drives: R Reg 2.5V6 Omega ELITE & P reg Omega 2.5 V6 CDX	Re: licence for towing caravan Reply #5 - 08. Aug 2011 at 12:50 a 2 minute search found the answer: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/DriverLicensing/CaravansTrailersCommercialV... We were both half correct Andy Edit: beat me to it
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Kevin Wood

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Re: licence for towing caravan
Reply #6 - 08. Aug 2011 at 12:53

Yep. If you can understand it, you can bet it's not the definitive DVLA advice. Wink

Quote:

Category B: Vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes MAM and with up to eight passenger seats

Category B vehicles may be coupled with a trailer up to 750kgs MAM (allowing a combined weight up to 4.25 tonnes MAM) or a trailer over 750kgs MAM provided the MAM of the trailer does not exceed the unladen weight of the towing vehicle, and the combination does not exceed 3.5 tonnes MAM.

Quote:

Category B+E: Vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes MAM towing trailers over 750kgs MAM

Category B+E allows vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes MAM to be combined with trailers in excess of 750kgs MAM. In order to gain this entitlement new category B licence holders have to pass a further practical test for category B+E. There is no category B+E theory test. For driver licensing purposes there are no vehicle/trailer weight ratio limits for category B+E.

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Guffer

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Re: licence for towing caravan
Reply #7 - 08. Aug 2011 at 12:53

If his caravan is less than 750 kerb weight and the MAM does not exceed the vehicle MAM or 3500kg (which on an Omega it wont) then he can do so on his B. If the Caravan KW is higher than 750kg but the combined MAM of both vehicle and caravan do not exceed 3500kg then he needs B+E. If the Combined MAM goes over 3500kg then he is getting into C1 and C1+E territory Thumbs Up!

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Guffer Omega Lord Offline Music to watch girls by.... Posts: 6142 Hampshire Gender: Drives: R Reg 2.5V6 Omega ELITE & P reg Omega 2.5 V6 CDX	Re: licence for towing caravan Reply #8 - 08. Aug 2011 at 12:56 The first example they give on that page contradicts the preceeding paragraph. Oh the DVLA, unless c................
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Kevin Wood Global Moderator Admin Team Offline Posts: 20377 Alton, Hampshire Gender: Drives: 3.2 MV6 (LPG), Westfield	Re: licence for towing caravan Reply #9 - 08. Aug 2011 at 13:03 Guffer wrote on 08. Aug 2011 at 12:56: The first example they give on that page contradicts the preceeding paragraph. Oh the DVLA, unless c................ See.. Even they can't understand the drivel they generate. Drivel which results in drivers choosing lighter tow cars to stay clear of the 3.5 tonne limit.
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serek

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Re: licence for towing caravan
Reply #10 - 08. Aug 2011 at 13:29

Guffer wrote on 08. Aug 2011 at 12:53:

If his caravan is less than 750 kerb weight and the MAM does not exceed the vehicle MAM or 3500kg (which on an Omega it wont) then he can do so on his B. If the Caravan KW is higher than 750kg but the combined MAM of both vehicle and caravan do not exceed 3500kg then he needs B+E. If the Combined MAM goes over 3500kg then he is getting into C1 and C1+E territory Thumbs Up!

thanks for all replays
caravan it more then 750kgs
so I need B+E Thumbs Up!

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Kevin Wood Global Moderator Admin Team Offline Posts: 20377 Alton, Hampshire Gender: Drives: 3.2 MV6 (LPG), Westfield	Re: licence for towing caravan Reply #11 - 08. Aug 2011 at 13:32 serek wrote on 08. Aug 2011 at 13:29: thanks for all replays caravan it more then 750kgs so I need B+E Only if the MAM of the caravan takes you over 3500 kg. MAM of an Omega is, at a guess, around 2200 kg so you should still have room for up to 1300 kg.
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Auto Addict Administrator Offline OOF's Elder Statesman Posts: 10091 North Birmingham Gender: Drives: 2.6 CDX	Re: licence for towing caravan Reply #12 - 08. Aug 2011 at 16:42 http://www.caravanclub.co.uk/practical-advice/general-advice/having-the-right-li...
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omegaman2 Omega Knight Offline cruise , tints, shinbuster,advanced drinking test Posts: 1097 Kilsyth, Glasgow G65 Gender: Drives: 2.2dti CD 2003 manual saloon	Re: licence for towing caravan Reply #13 - 08. Aug 2011 at 17:09 migs can tow 1700 kg , thats the limit
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shadwell1981

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Re: licence for towing caravan
Reply #14 - 08. Aug 2011 at 20:34

i passed my test in '99 and have been towing with a '04 frontera olympus ( sadly p/x ) and 4 berth elddis. i got pulled into a check stop on the m5 last year. only thing they were worried about was if the unit was stolen, i was using red diesel and not over weight (i always tow to regs of car and van) nothing was ever mentioned about licence. they did do a driver check and said nothing. dont think they knew regs!
when i checked with DVLA i was told my unit must not weigh more than 3500 kg nothing else! best place for advice is the caravan club legal department. what they dont know about towing and licences is not worth knowing. not got a van atthe moment so not towed with omega. hope 2.5 TD manual is up to job.

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