WTD Tow

Yep I need a tow, anyone fancy doing a favour for a poor Vauxhall viva owner? The car is in Melton Mowbray and I live in Nuneaton. Its nota runner so cannot move on to and off a car ramp. but the brakes do work. Doesn't have a MOT so cannot be towed legally on a dolly.

Ideas and offers welcome.

Reply to
Annteak
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A car transporter winches the car on board. Doesn't have to drive. That's why they're used for broken down cars. ;-)

As regards being towed on a dolly, don't think you need an MOT for this. The towed car is under the control of the towing vehicle.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

I think you'll find the OP is right. An MOT is required, even if a dolly is used, as 2 wheels are still on the road. The dolly should also be braked. Mike.

Reply to
Mike G

You saying when these were common for breakdown recovery, the firm asked to see the car's MOT?

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Maybe it's not strictly enforced, or the law has been changed, but that is what I was told by a PC a few years ago. I.e, that an MOT was req'd, but of course traffic PC's are not always right. Mike.

Reply to
Mike G

It's certainly my understanding of it too. I'd guess that as far as enforcing the law is concerned, you're more likely to get stopped if you're using a dolly to tow a rusty wreck that's clearly been standing for years than if you're towing a tidy car with a current tax disc.

Incidentally, anyone know when a car becomes a trailer? I need to haul that Golf off for scrap soon and it struck me that with the front end cut off (i.e. no running gear or front suspension), I could bolt on a draw bar and pull it on its back wheels as a trailer.

Reply to
Willy Eckerslyke

But surely needing an MOT implies that the vehicle being lift towed must be roadworthy? Whereas an accident damaged vehicle might plainly be not?

BTW, I'm not certain of any facts here. ;-) But logic would say a car having a lift tow becomes a sort of trailer?

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Two trailers it seems...

"With car dollies, the situation is somewhat different. Under regulation

83 of the Road Vehicles (construction & Use) Regulations 1986 (SI.1986/1078) Amending Regulations, a car dolly, with a car in place, will be considered as two trailers. This is legal for recovery but, under the Road Traffic Regulations Act 1984 (Schedule 6) the combination is limited to 40 mph on motorways and dual carriageways and 20 mph elsewhere. Note that there is a very specific difference between recovery and transportation. Recovery is the removal of a broken down vehicle to a place of safety."

This is from:

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This page also seems to answer my previous question - looks as though I'm OK as long as the weight remains low enough for it to be unbraked.

Reply to
Willy Eckerslyke

Well, a couple of weeks ago when this chappy wanted a tow I quoted a price and his reaction (in this newsgroup) was:

"Blimey, more than some of the scum on eBay !!"

He also went on to say that he really wanted someone to do it for peanuts-worth of "other services" under one of those half-baked LETS schemes where people who can walk dogs or make plasticene worms expect to trade their services for those of plasterers, welders, or surgeons.

So, to reduce the risk of being publicly classed as "scum", or being stuck with a load of plasticene worms, I don't think I'll quote on this one. There are some great enthusiasts on this newsgroup who it's been my pleasure to assist.

Reply to
Autolycus

If it broke down, it was on the road. If it was on the road without an MoT, that's hardly the recovery driver's fault, is it?

Reply to
Ian Dalziel

It would be the tow truck driver's responsibility to make sure his 'rig' was legal, though, as with all things driving.

But perhaps that's why this sort of rig seems to have been largely replaced by flat bed trucks?

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Dave Plowman (News)" saying something like:

Another good reason is a flatbed recovery truck can recover almost any car, crashed, bashed or simply dead. As time passed, the older flatbeds became affordable for the one-man band operators and they've gradually rendered the dollies surplus. I've towed with dollies before and never really felt they were that secure for long distances.

Reply to
Grimly Curmudgeon

That was for another car (my red Viva), to go from Nuneaton to Leeds, this is for a green Viva from Melton Mowbray to Nuneaton. hence the new request

No I never said for "Peanuts" , I did however say that a friend who was going to SERVICE my car in Leeds on a LETS scheme, NOTHING at all to do with the moving of the car. I am paying her a new Laptop plus several office PC's, an Oscilloscope, some Licensed software and food for a week, more than a fair swap.

I never implied you were "scum" I implied that some of the EBay sellers were SCUM, sorry if you personally feel Tarred with the same brush. eBay recovery services in my experience say one thing then do another, don't turn up, lie about a quote and demand more money on collection / delivery etc..Say they will do the job, with lovely insured flat bed and turn up with a landy and dolly with no Tax or MOT, ive been there. That's why I asked in the NG instead "so Like minded enthusiasts might help with information etc"

Well that's okay, we all have choices etc, all it was is a polite ask of a favour. If you don't want to do the work, that's also fine. I have no problem at all with you on this matter. The fact that you take exception and have misquoted me I can forgive, we all read newsgroups and assume the worst when we need it to suit our belief about people. You were never and are not SCUM at all, I do not know you from Adam

Reply to
Annteak

IIRC - home made trailers are now illegal - or are going to be ...

Reply to
Mark W

In message , Mike G writes

It's correct, unless it's being towed by a recovery vehicle (within the legal definition) and being used for recovering a disabled vehicle, in which case it's exempt.

Reply to
Philip Stokes

I'd half remembered something similar, which is partly why I asked. However all I can find by googling is the usual stuff about weights and lighting regs. There's also the general point about not having sharp bits that could injure anyone. My main concern was that it would still officially be a car and not a trailer at all, hence I could be stung with using an untaxed, uninsured vehicle with no MOT on the road. However, with the engine, gearbox, and entire front removed back to the bulkhead, I can't see how that could apply. I'm only talking about a single 6 mile trip on quiet roads, so am prepared to risk it.

Reply to
Willy Eckerslyke

It "used" to be the case that if the cost of repair exceeded the vehicle's value, it could be classed as a trailer. That was told to me by a PC, I've never seen it put in writing. That was also a few years ago, before the revamp of the railer regulations (7-8 years ago?) so probably quite irrelevant now. At the time I used a drawbar to bring home several part dismantled Heralds, not sure I'd be so happy to do it now, Cheers, Bill.

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Reply to
Bill Davies

With the front end missing, I think it would be classed as a trailer. A few rear halves of MM's and Minis are being used regularly as trailers, presumably without any legal problems. Where I think you'd fall foul of the law, is with it's weight. It would probably exceed the permitted unbraked trailer weight. Anything much larger than a small camping box trailer, must have it's own brakes. Having said that, I think the risk of you being caught and convicted is quite low. Especially if you use a proper lighting board, and take it easy. Mike.

Reply to
Mike G

No,not quite, but: "but was sorta hopping some nice person would do it for Half?"

"(for those of you who have heard of a LETS scehme thats how its being paid for). So getting a trailer hire and or tow on the same basis would of been great."

Hmmm. Sounds like LETS was the first choice.

Yes indeed - it might almost have cheaper to pay with the real folding stuff.

Not at all - I didn't even want the risk.

That's interesting - I always like to hear publicity for how awful some of the competition is ;-) Someone once bought a Y-type MG from me and sent one of the well-known and oft-recommended firms to collect it. He turned up with a Transit beaver-tail and very bent ramps "they sagged when I was loading a Silver Shadow onto it last week". Some customers aren't always as honest as they might be: origins and destinations sometimes turn out to be a good few miles beyond the named towns; "a few spares" turns into a couple of engines that pee oil everywhere plus a load of soggy cardboard boxes, and "on the drive" can mean "in the field where it's been for the last 20 years".

Fair enough.

Not really - but I'm glad neither of us intends to start WW III over it.

Watch out for the Inland Revenue with your LETS scheme: they take a broader view of "income" than just used notes. Even plasticene worms can assume a high value when it suits the IR investigators.

Reply to
Autolycus

I found the figures yesterday and they were high enough not to worry me.

550Kg or something. My Passat's trailer nose weight maximum of 85kg could be more of a problem. I'm reckoning that if I can't lift the "trailer's" drawbar, I'll lop off the doors and push out the windscreen to shave off the required pounds.

Exactly.

Reply to
Willy Eckerslyke

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