Would you buy a car with a welded shut bonnet?

K! Theres a black shiny one that runs around here occasionally - usually seen with horsebox being towed behind! OH fell in love with it straight away - which was fine by me as I thought I'd have to talk her into the idea!

Lovely machine! Fancy sticking a woman behind the wheel of a left hand drive, V8 5ltr engine - just to wind Conor up :-) I love it and find it very easy to drive plus it has all the little extras which make the cab very comfortable. To sum up, you have a machine with guts, all hard on the outside and soft on the inside - a womans dream! Just get your OH to drive one and she will be sold on it! Jo

It's not that long ago you could have a greater train weight than that on your licence.

That would be a new definition of most then.

( snipped-for-privacy@isbd.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

But I don't agree with "most people" - only those who passed their test since 1/1/97. They're not yet in the majority...

( snipped-for-privacy@isbd.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

No, it's 3500kg trailer. GTW for a Disco 3 is 6,730kg.

( snipped-for-privacy@isbd.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Yes, they can. But only up to 750kg.

The message from "Duncan Wood" contains these words:

How many people reading this have B+E on their license? It'd be interesting to know. I can't remember exactly when the rules changed - about ten years ago, IIRC. That means that most people in their twenties and thirties are limited to a GTW of 3500kg.

Guy King ( snipped-for-privacy@zetnet.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

- I'm 35.

Anybody who passed before 1/1/97 got C1/C1E, allowing 8250kg GTW - 7500kg+

The message from Adrian contains these words:

Where do you get the 750kg from? DVLA says this...

To me the first part says you can tow up to 750kg /but/ qualified by the second sentence which says that the overall mass of the combination musn't exceed 3500kg.

So it's 3500kg, /or/ 2750+750kg.

The message from Adrian contains these words:

Provided your license covers you. Unless they've taken a trailer test anyone under 29 won't have such a license.

The message from Adrian contains these words:

Yes, but B is limited to a combined mass of 3500kg. You can drive a car up to 3500kg or a combination up to 3500kg but not a car of 3500kg /with/ a trailer of any sort.

"Motor vehicles with a MAM not exceeding 3500kg having not more than 8 passenger seats with a trailer up to 750kg. Combinations of towing vehicles in category B and a trailer, where the MAM of the combination does not exceed 3500kg and the MAM of the trailer does not exceed the unladen mass of the towing vehicle"

Guy King ( snipped-for-privacy@zetnet.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Yep, mea culpa. I didn't spot that second sentence.

Anybody with a recent licence can tow 750kg, unless they're driving something obese like a Disco 3.

Yes, OK, maybe not most but it's definitely something worth asking and I suspect that quite a few of the people here (uk.rec.equestrian) are relatively young.

But that effectively means *not* a horse trailer as these will just about always weigh more than 750kg, even without a horse in them.

Yes, you can drive this if you have the entitlement on your licence but what quite a few people here have been pointing out is that if you passed you test after 1/1/97 you are only allowed to drive up to a total train weight of 3500kg.

Isn't the trailer test something different again?

You need LGV to drive anything more than 3500kg nowadays and you need specific trailer entitlement to pull a trailer, separate things.

( snipped-for-privacy@isbd.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Since it's the Maximum Authorised Mass that everything's based on, rather than the *actual* weight, it'd mean that anybody with a post-97 licence can barely even tow one of those crappy a Halfrauds box trailers behind a Disco

Even the smallest £150 Halfrauds trailer is 300kg MAM - hang that off the arse of a 3230kg GVW Disco 3 - Ooops, 3530kg...