Silly Season

[CornishMike]

The silly season's now started in ernest. I'm lucky enough to live in Cornwall & work in Devon, so I see a lot of outfits in my daily commute, especially in July & August - the peak holiday months.

Who was it driving a Kia Sorento pulling a big twin axle, reg no LE55 etc., who thought it perfectly OK to wobble and swing along the M5 last week at over 70mph in the 2nd lane? The driver only slowed down when he nearly lost it trying to overtake an HGV. I know he was travelling at this speed as I was stuck in lane 3 trying to ease safely past without being clouted by the snaking 'van.

What's the rush? You're supposed to be going on hols, not killing yourself and other people.

And why is there now increasing numbers of grossly underweight tugs pulling gargantuan vans at probably 110+%, never mind the 85% guideline, with their back-ends scraping along the tarmac and their front axles pointing skywards with much reduced steering efficientcy?

Who has sold them these badly matched outfits, and where is the Plod? Speed cameras don't catch these rogues!

Is it just me, or have others noticed this worrying trend?

Rant over

 

[Steve L]

Hi Mike.

I can fully understand your annoyance at the stupidity of some folk who seem to think the drive to and from the family holiday is some sort of time trial and drive as if the ferry is about to leave without them.

I tow probably a gargantuan caravan behind a light car as I have an Abbey 540se and a 1998 Laguna 2ltr 8V to pull the van. I know that I am right on the limit of the car's tow capacity, in fact the van is 36Kgs too heavey if loaded to the full capacity. But I first of all don't use the full load capacity and secondly I take great care to load the van properly and get the hitch weight to 75Kgs. Secondly I ahve found that by driving at 57Mph on the motorway as opposed to striving to get to 60Mph, I can save 2 Mpg which is a good saving for me.

When I'm on holiday, I relax and allow an extra hour on a 4 hour drive just for taking it easy.

I never cease to be amazed at some of the antics of caravanners who load their vans badly and then you can see them holding the steering wheel so tight their hands go into cramp shock, and also look totally petrified as they insist in overtaking the lorries.

I can not stress enough to those who are having trouble with a snaking unit, that loading and balancing of the hitch weight are key to a smooth tow. Also for gods sake check all the tyre pressures.

Steve L.

 

[Murdan]

Well if you think that's bad I was driving past Blair Drummond safari park in Stirlingshire when I saw a ford focus hatchback towing a large twin axle hobby caravan. Obviously way too heavy for the tow car!

 

[DianneT]

The Kia Sorrento can easily pull, within the law, a twin axel caravan we tow an 8 metre one all over Europe with no problems. Checking loading and tyres and safety before we leave but not at that speed that was ridiculous.

 

[Rod_5041370]

Daniel,

Forget about the weight of the Hobby, it is in fact illegal in the UK, to tow any twin axle Hobby with a vehicle weighing less than 3501 Kgs.

 

[Dustydog]

Daniel,

Forget about the weight of the Hobby, it is in fact illegal in the UK, to tow any twin axle Hobby with a vehicle weighing less than 3501 Kgs.

Rod

Not all Hobby TAs are overweight nor do they all exceed 2.3m wide and 7m long ( excluding the drawbar and coupling).

Cheers

Dustydog