What is the actual legalities about towing a trailer?

[KatyMac]

My car can pull 997kgs

I want a caravan or trailer for work

If I buy an unplated trailer and I get stoped by the police and the total weight is below 750kgs am I legal?

As so few trailers/caravans seem to have a bloody plate

Yes, you would be legal if the weight of the trailer including any load is no more than 750kg. Even if the trailer weighs more than that, you will be legal provided the total weight of car and trailer is no more than 3500kg.

Well yes, but surely if I tried to tow a 1.5 tonne trailer (my car is 2000) I'd be illegal as my limit is 997?

Your driving license allows you to drive a car and trailer with a maximum authorised mass (MAM) of 3500kg or a trailer with an MAM of 750kg. For clarity, MAM for the trailer is the weight of the trailer with its maximum permitted load. As your car weighs 2000kg, you can legally use a trailer with an MAM of up to 1500kg provided the actual weight of the loaded trailer is no more than 997kg.

If you tow a trailer with an MAM of more than 1500kg you could be prosecuted for driving without a licence. If you tow a trailer where the total weight of trailer and load is more than 997kg you could be prosecuted for driving a vehicle in an unsafe condition.

So what I've been told previously is wrong; this could have made my life a lot easier

I shared this with a police officer friend who said it wasn't true

So I'm all confused

& he said if I were towing for work if I got it wrong the penalties were serious

So I have the 1.6 ecoboost so I can have 750 unbaked or 1000 braked

But you ate saying I could have a 1.5 braked trailer as long as I don't put more than (weight of trailer plus stock)=1000

So an unbraked trailer that weight 357 (with a max of 1500 ) I could add 297 of stock and equipment?

My current stock and equipment is 180

But if the trailer is unplated then I just need to assume those figures

All driving licenses cover category B. This allows you to drive a vehicle of up to 3500kg with a trailer with an MAM of up to 750kg or a heavier trailer provided the sum of the vehicle MAM and trailer MAM does not exceed 3500kg and the trailer MAM is less than the unladen weight of the vehicle. B+E is only required if you want to use a trailer with an MAM of over 750kg and the sum of the vehicle MAM and trailer MAM will exceed 3500kg. If you have B+E can drive a vehicle of up to 3500kg MAM with a trailer.

If you took your driving test before January 1st 1997 you will almost certainly have B+E (and you will actually be subject to different, more generous, rules on weights). After that date you will only have B and need to pass an additional test to get E. Anyone passing the additional test after 19th January 2013 is limited to a trailer with an MAM of no more than 3500kg. I am assuming that you only have B and that you passed your test in 1997 or later.

Ifor Williams Trailers Ltd say that B+E is required because, if you are towing a trailer with an MAM of 2000kg, the unladen weight of the car must be at least 2000kg, so its MAM will be more than that. The vehicle and trailer combination will therefore exceed 3500kg MAM, so category E is required.

The 1.6 Ecoboost has a Gross Vehicle Weight (another name for MAM) of 2045kg. So no, you cannot use a trailer with an MAM of 1500kg. The maximum permitted is 1455kg. But you can use a 1455kg braked trailer provided its loaded weight is no more than 1000kg. If it is not braked, its loaded weight must not exceed 750kg.

To answer your last question, you cannot use an unbraked trailer with an MAM of 1500kg. However, if you used an unbraked trailer with an MAM of 1455kg or less and the unladen weight of the trailer is 357kg, you can put up to 393kg stock and equipment in that trailer, taking the total weight to 750kg. I would recommend keeping well away from that limit to allow for any errors in weighing.

Given that your vehicle is limited to 750kg unbraked towing weight, I'm not sure why you would want to go for a trailer with a higher MAM. It would be simpler to get one with an MAM of 750kg. That way you are clearly legal unless you overload the trailer.

I need it to be big enough to display dresses in

So 1455kg but ideally less

My stock and equipment are currently 180kg - so if I can find one a full height 375kg trailer would be ideal or a lightweight caravan

I feel like I have been looking for years but its probably only about a year or so

I may have rejected ones i didn't need to because of that policeman! Bugger!!

Oh and I am pre 1997.....

Thanks so much for talking this through with me