Towing...the legalities

[CountryPug]

I've been thinking of adding a towbar to my 406 for some time now as the ability to tow a trailer would be ever so handy. I used to tow trailers quite a lot with my dads 405 and growing up on a farm I've towed my fair share of silage trailers behind tractors aswell. Basically I would be using the trailer to tow a small Massey Ferguson tractor and mowing equipment/pressure washer around locally. At a rough guess the tractor and equipment together would weight between 1.5-2 tonnes.

My question relates to this post viewtopic.php?f=17&t=11732&p=104001&hil ... ng#p104001

A) I got my licience in 2004, Is it totally illegal for me to be towing trailers of this size and weight?
B) If it is illegal (is it really inforced?), how do I get a towing licience? (I've never heard of any tests in NI)

[mjb]

A) I got my licience in 2004, Is it totally illegal for me to be towing trailers of this size and weight?

Yep

B) If it is illegal (is it really inforced?), how do I get a towing licience? (I've never heard of any tests in NI)

I'd suggest looking around the DVLA website, although it is difficult (all this stupid direct.gov.uk rubbish ).

[CountryPug]

Yeah it appears to be pretty clear cut, cheers mjb. Always good to know when your breaking the law...that way you can have your excuse ready

[Bailes1992]

You can tow upto 750kg but the trailer and car cannot weight more than 3500kg together.
Had to go through all this few months ago to find out if I could take a poxy little trailer to Cardiff

[FarmerPug]

is the small massey ferguson by any chance a 135, i cant drive with a trailer because i never got the licence yet and was never bothered to do it because it would end up my car being used too often for pulling, but even without the trailer licence i have drove the 135 and big renault on the roads because i dont think tractor trailers need the trailer licence.

[CountryPug]

Nope not a 135, however we do have a 35. No the tractor in question is this little machine, a 1230, its a 3-cylinder diesel unit with hydrostatic gears producing about 25bhp.



That was why I never heard mention of this towing rule before. It's strange I'm legally allowed to pilot 100hp+ tractors and twin axle silage trailers along the road but not a saloon car with a trailer lol

[FarmerPug]

nice tractor, would be handy for the orchard. But yip its not fair the renault i think is about 130hp and its fine to tow a trailer round the place, but not with a car..