Legal Issues Towing A Car

[skylinefeb75 5]

_{Oh well.............Ill just have to lighten the car further.its not a lot more than a bare shell with an engine and box now but im sure there is more to be taken off and replaced with lighter parts.....lol}

Edited April 23, 2012 by skylinefeb75

[rallysteve 22]

Please read this document from the Departement For Transport clarifying the issue (Sept 2011):

http://assets.dft.gov.uk/publications/dft-information-sheets/a-frames-and-dollies.pdf

 

Google is your friend

 

Steve

[chipstick 382 1 Cars]

Guys....great debate. My mate is a traffic cop and he has confirmed that as long as there is no driver in the car being towed and it is not being towed by a rope it does not need to have MOT or tax or for that matter insurance.

 

 

Having just read the link above very briefly it mentions that cars with 2 wheels up off the ground makes it classed as a trailer.

 

So going back to the traffic officers quote, does he mean as the above link - it's legal with the two wheels off the ground technically classing it then as a trailer, or as it comes across - a car with a bar, not a rope with 4 wheels on the ground is legal to tow with the 4 wheels still on the ground?

[skylinefeb75 5]

My traffic police mate (Who we call Robocop cos he's that bad!!) re-confirmed that the current law states that if a car is on all four wheels and being towed via an A-Frame (With noboy in the car being towed), with a fully operational towing board on the rear of the car being towed, clearly displaying the reg of the towing vehicle then it does not need to be Tax'd MOT'd or for that matter insured. I have many friends who tow their race cars this way all over the country and have never been stopped. As to the towing weight....ive not had my stripped out 205 trackcar on the weighbridge yet but Im pretty sure it will be under 750KG and thus will not need towing with an A-Frame that appies the cars brakes.................time will tell. Let me tell you this though...a car on all 4 wheels towed via an A-Frame is both more stable and easier to tow....and puts less stress (Due to reduced weight) on the towing vehicle compared to a trailer!!

[Batfink 201]

The other nice thing about an a-frame is your are only towing something as wide as a normal vehicle so its much easier visibility and for getting down smaller roads. Only issue is you cannot reverse.

[Atari Boy 11]

There is a very good article in this months Track Driver magazine, subscription is free. I will try to remember to bring it to my office tomorrow and upload a scan of it.

www.trackdriver.com

[m_attt 31 1 Cars]

There is a very good article in this months Track Driver magazine, subscription is free. I will try to remember to bring it to my office tomorrow and upload a scan of it.

www.trackdriver.com

 

i was going to say the same thing just unsure how to upload once scanned

[Anthony 1,003]

There's a fair bit of confusion going on in this thread.

 

An A-frame effectively turns the towed car into a trailer, hence not needing an MOT or tax, but being on somewhat dubious ground with regards legality as it's almost certainly overweight as an unbraked trailer. Just to further muddy the waters though, there's different rules depending on whether you're "recovering" a car or not.

 

Dollies are something separate again.

 

I've A-framed all over the country and never had any issues, including a trip from Turso (near John O'Groats!) to London, and I think that they're great and easier than mucking around with trailers with the added benefit that you can "get away with" a much more modest tow car safely (although you still need to keep your wits about you!). I've never had any issue with the police or VOSA, but realistically it is going to fall foul of the law if you're stopped and taken to a weighbridge and as with anything else, you take your chances and accept that it is fair cop if you're caught.

 

If you're towing using a rope or hard bar then the towed car is still classsd as a car, and hence needs MOT, tax etc, but does not cause legality issues with regards to weight like a trailer does. Both, particularly the rope, rely on the person being towed knowing what they're doing, which all too often isn't the case.