Maximum lengths ??

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S

Surfer

Aug 4, 2004
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They have to comply with an EU directive so you will find that the 7m length has been changed otherwise visitors from EU states would get fined.
 
S

Surfer

Aug 4, 2004
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Britain has to comply with EU laws etc so if you are allowed to tow a caravan with a width of 2.55 and a longer length in an EU state than Britian has to comply and allow it to happen over here.

If you did get nailed, you could challenge it in court and probably win eventually.

I honestly don't think it is an issue
 
Lutz

Lutz

Mar 14, 2005
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No, Ian, individual states can apply restrictions over and above EU directives if they consider that local conditions warrant such action. This was the reason for applying the 2.3m width restriction in the past, but the UK has since backed down from the requirement, probably because it didn't make sense. The length restriction doesn't make sense either because it does not apply if the GVW of the towing vehicle exceeds 3.5 tonnes, but as fewer caravans would be affected there doesn't seem to be much pressure for change here.
 
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602

May 25, 2009
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Hi,

You can exceed 7m if you are carrying an indivisible load. I towed my boat, 8m plus a outdrive, and not sitting fully on the trailer (I hadn't yet sorted the axles to give balance) so probably about 11m from towball to tip of rudder. Everybody, including police, gave me a wide berth.

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N

NickinFrance

Jul 31, 2009
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My son regularly used our car to tow his university rowing boats & never could find out if it was legal or not.



In the end he got a letter from a Devon Police Traffic Inspector that said, 'in his opinion the combination was legal'
 
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Aug 4, 2004
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My son regularly used our car to tow his university rowing boats & never could find out if it was legal or not.



In the end he got a letter from a Devon Police Traffic Inspector that said, 'in his opinion the combination was legal'
Click to expand...
looks like a Toyota Hilux Surf towing.
 
D

DomDom

Aug 20, 2009
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Well, I can't find any information regarding indivisible loads but when I think about it, there are plenty of gliders which are trailered around in those extremely long trailers.

On that basis, a caravan is "indivisible" since it cannot be split into smaller parts. I'm sure the police would argue that a smaller van CAN be purchased which I guess is not true of gliders since they won't work very well with short wings, lol. All a bit confusing.

The actual law from the DOT website states this: (took some finding)

If the towing vehicle has a permissible gross weight in excess of 3.5 tonnes the maximum width and length of the trailer are 2.55 metres and 12 metres respectively. If however the gross weight of the towing vehicle is 3.5 tonnes or less then the maximum permissible width and length are 2.55 metres and 7 metres respectively. In both cases the overall length of the towing vehicle and trailer must not exceed either 18m or 18.75m depending on the type of towing vehicle.
 
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NickinFrance

Jul 31, 2009
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The problem my son & the Police had was that there is almost no size legislation for trailers with a Gross Plated weight of less than 750 kg which this trailer was.

All he was advised to do was to follow the 'Abnormal load' regulations & inform each Police Force who's patch he was travelling through 48 hours in advance.

This was normally met by an officer with pound notes flashing before his eyes asking how may cars & motorcycles did he want for the escort :)
 
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