28 replies to this topic

[mini1976]

ON passing a standard driving test you have a catagory B licence and as such may tow anything in the catagory B section that you just quoted.

If you wish to tow more than this then you require to have a catagory B licence plue the E endorsement.

So catagory B you can tow

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.

If you get the extra endorsement you can tow

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.

The important word being "excess". I would be willing to bet that most of the things you would need to tow for the arm ( or at least some of them) are in excess so you require the aditional endorsment.

There is a less word explination than the dvla's on Click

[jack_marshall]

That is how I am understanding it Mini1976!

I have emailed them and will add their reply once I get it!

[mini1976]

I really wouldnt worry about it though, Im shore your allowed to tow I passed in 2000 and have been towing stuff ever since. I would seriously consider keeping the breaks though. WHen towing with my mini the main problem isnt going, its stopping just cause the breaks will stop the wheels but the wheels dont grip the road enough with mini wheels only being small. I would guess that I am towing about 200kg with just me in the car. I think the difference is that if the weight was in the car there would be more pressure on the road from the tyres and therfore more grip.

Anyway I just think as you already have the breaks there it would be worth the investment in a breaking hitch and connecting up the breaks.

[wolfie]

why not just take the test anyway? at least in the future you can hire a van and trailer and go pick up projects ect the training is pretty usefull as well lol

[jack_marshall]

Ok, thanks for the advice.

Would the brakes work off the towing car's system though? Surely powering more breakes will only make the towing cars brakes less effective?

why not just take the test anyway? at least in the future you can hire a van and trailer and go pick up projects ect the training is pretty usefull as well lol

I dont see myself doing another project this serious for a long time and I wouldnt bother with a van and trailer. Id borrow my dads low-loader.

Towing a trailer this scale is nothing compared to pulling a ton or 2.

[mini1976]

You would use the handbreak cables off the rear end of the mini. These are linked to a lever by the towing hitch. When you break the hitch pushes against the lever and applys the breaks.

As far as doing the test anyway. You can tow a mini on a trailer as long as the trailer is breaked with just your normall licence providing the car weighs more than your towing. Secondly is the cost of doing the test as im guessing you would need to do some lessons so you actually know what is required and what is considered good practice (like when you learnt to drive and reverse round a corner, how far can you be away from the kirb. You may have been able to reverse round a corner without lessons but would you do it in a way the examiner liked). Also as i understand it to take the test you A, need a trailer that weights over 1 tone and B, a vehicle legaly capable of towing it. Finaly you have to find a centre that you can do the test at.

[Jake Blues]

Ok I've read it again and listened to your points. I think I was wrong! What you said was that a Cat B license entitles you to drive that vehicle with a weight-limited trailer without taking a further test and I think you're right.
It doesn't say anything about the trailer needing to be braked though and I used to tow an un-braked trailer with all my windsurfing kit on with no probs (not in a Mini tho!)

I have looked into the Army issue we had and it seems as though what was done in getting people through tests was to allow them to be able to drive any vehicle with any weight trailer. This made things easier when organising convoys and movements because we didn't have to worry about who could drive what.

Sorry if I mislead anyone with my mis-interpretation of the DVLA thing!

[jack_marshall]

Yeah, it would make sence the army doing that.

Been an interesting discussion and althought I have the answer now, I shall still put up any reply I get from the DVLA.

Cheers everyone.

[biggav]

it's deffinatley one of those grey area's that im sure the police love to exploit!! when i did my HGV and EFAD last year, the HGV test centre did B+E tests too. i'm sure that the instructor told me you can't tow anything if you pasted your test after 1997... ?He may have misinterpreted the wording too... what does it say on your photocard licence? surley it lists your entitlements on there... mine says B+E i think...... i passed my test a month before the law changed.

[cowboy]

jake just a quick one why the army need B+E for landrover and trailer is the MAM for them alone is 3050kg add the weight of the trailer and you cant put anything into it..

things are worse than that these days we cant drive anything with out taking a test in that vehicle first.

[Jake Blues]

jake just a quick one why the army need B+E for landrover and trailer is the MAM for them alone is 3050kg add the weight of the trailer and you cant put anything into it..

things are worse than that these days we cant drive anything with out taking a test in that vehicle first.

Oh right, of course!! I remember now!! I am slowly deleting all the Army stuff in my head as it takes up too much room
I was is Osnabruck at the time and the 1 Div Master Driver was telling everyone that they had to have HGV1 to drive a 4T + 1 3/4T trl because of the new rules. I think that changed when they were interpreted correctly but I can see now why we did what we did with the HGV thing. Irony is that when I was at Bordon on PS I got everyone through their HGV1 because anyone could do it but then, when it was my turn "they" decided that SSgts and above didn't need to have it so my course was cancelled! Doh!

PS. Not that it matters because just before my last birthday I got a nice letter from the DVLA telling me that if I want to keep my HGV2 then I will need to take a medical....no probs I thought....oh wait...HOW MUCH??? £120? For a 15 minute medical?......at least D1ck Turpin wore a mask!!

[flashley]

Soz for dragging up an old thread but I'm looking into getting a trailer for my 1998 mini. I remember reading somewhere that after a certain year of mini manufacturing it was illegal to use a mini to tow. I can't find where I read it originally so might have imagined it!!

Anyone else tow with a later mini or heard of this?

Ta Ash

[mini1976]

I think what your refering to is that after a certain year the mini was nolonger registered or aproved for towing as either aproval wasnt required before the date or the old aproval expired. So I dont think you can buy towbars that say they will fit the very late models (obviousely they will as the mini didnt suddenly change). Its not ileagal to tow with them (as I understand it), just they were never type aproved.

[Dan]

Yes it is. It is now illegal in Europe to fit a towing bracket or use a car for towing which has not received european certification as a towing vehicle, the towing brackets themselves must also be certified.

This law came into force on 01, august 1998. If your car was FIRST REGISTERED (not BUILT) before that date you can have a tow bar, if not you can't. Before august '98 no certification was required.

Edited by Dan, 04 May 2006 - 08:51 PM.