I’m having to hire a box van trailer for next week.
But been let down on the 4m high one.
But I can get a 4.2m one. This should be ok for France?
Isn’t it a 4.5m limit?
muckles:
I’m having to hire a box van trailer for next week.
But been let down on the 4m high one.
But I can get a 4.2m one. This should be ok for France?
Isn’t it a 4.5m limit?
No problem with 4.2 but don’t use the train unless you have measured it.
There is no height limit in France unless you are Brit Pete 
, the bridges are not generally signed above 4.5
Thanks Wheel Nut, thought it was ok. We use p&o for channel crossing.
Going to Le Mans and Magny cours testing.
muckles:
Thanks Wheel Nut, thought it was ok. We use p&o for channel crossing.
Going to Le Mans and Magny cours testing.
You’ll have no problems in France with a 4.2 mate, I’ve used one over there many times.
Ross.
always thought there was a height limit in France or am i thinkin of other countries ?
So could you use a 4.5 trailer ?
doesn’t sound right!
try reading this HERE
BUT as some people will also state they run at 4.2 meters and
have had no problems it all depends on what happens when
some one stops you and decides to transfer the load
and escorts you back to the port just like they have done in
the UK with some company’s from Europe who entered the UK
with vehicles over length etc etc
Couple of things Pete.
The document you link to confirms no height limit in France, which is what people have been saying. Over a certain height you have to inform SNCF, I can’t remember if it is 4.4 or 4.5 metres.
Secondly, the information for Ireland in that document is incorrect. I am sitting in Holyhead Port at the moment waiting to board the Stena ferry to Dublin and there are a couple of double decker trailers waiting to cross, one of which is 16’ 1". I can also see a couple of high trailers waiting to board the Irish Ferries boat. There are double deckers on this crossing every day from the likes of TK Maxx, Halfords, M&S along with a couple of the pallet network companies, Pallet Force and The Pallet Network.
Coffeeholic:
Couple of things Pete.The document you link to confirms no height limit in France,
Secondly, the information for Ireland in that document is incorrect. I am sitting in Holyhead Port at the moment waiting to board the Stena ferry to Dublin and there are a couple of double decker trailers waiting to cross, one of which is 16’ 1". I can also see a couple of high trailers waiting to board the Irish Ferries boat. There are double deckers on this crossing every day from the likes of TK Maxx, Halfords, M&S along with a couple of the pallet network companies, Pallet Force and The Pallet Network.
That looks more than 4.0m and Transalliance, a French company who crossed the channel every day, ran around 5000 trailers, most of them 4.2 or 4.3. It was only the Hungarian and Romanian drivers who ran at 4metres
and it seems the only restriction in Dublin is the 4.65m Tunnel under the port
I agree with you Coffeeholic and yes we all know in real life
rules are made to be bent , it is how ever a laid down part of
the rules made for International transport, which has not been
changed at all, I was over in Dublin and the rest of the countries
last week and saw lots of over height vehicles as you said driving
around, on the nice roads out there is some case much much better
than some of the German roads today,
All I was doing is stating what is laid down by the powers in charge of International
transport who laid down the 4.00m HEIGHT as one to be used by all those who
were carrying out International journeys,as pointed out real life rules are bent
by those who disagree with them.
According to that link the vast majority of our curtainsiders, and a few of our fridges, are overheight in Ireland. Strange since we’re an Irish company! They don’t have a height limit in Ireland. We have some double deckers that won’t fit through Dublin port tunnel and overheight vehicles automatically have a dispensation to go through Dublin.
As for France I’ve seen quite a few Nolans over there with 4.5 metre trailers recently. Wouldn’t want to try it myself though. Took a 4.2 over once and down the N and D roads it was a complete pain in the arse.
brit pete:
All I was doing is stating what is laid down by the powers in charge of International
transport who laid down the 4.00m HEIGHT as one to be used by all those who
were carrying out International journeys,as pointed out real life rules are bent
by those who disagree with them.
It is these powers that be, those in charge which seem so elusive that I would like to see the documents which state that 4.0m is limited to all international journeys.
For example the IRU have a list of every country with weights, length and heights allowed and for France
It says this;
France - 6 no general limit
Ireland 4.25, except for specialist vehicles and containers.
I agree many countries in Europe and beyond do have lower limits, but mainly because of physical restrictions, like tunnels, tram lines and bridges.
Thanks for the replys folks, but it’s all a bit academic for me now, as the hire company won’t hire a 4.2m trailer to go abroad and they have a 4m trailer for me, but I have to go to Reading to pick it up I had hoped to get it from Maidstone which is only 20 miles from where the team is based.
I another note, I can’t believe the trouble I’ve had getting a trailer, I wanted a hire company based near me as we might want to hire a trailer on and off throughout the season.
Most companies I phoned didn’t have 4m box vans with tail lifts. Another one seemed to want me to jump through hoops just to open an account. We are an established company, we have a legit insurance and O licence and one of the directors is a Multi millionaire, I sent them all the documentation and they still questioned it. So I gave up went to another company with a base in Maidstone, no problem opening an account this and yes they have a trailer. Then Email last night can’t have the trailer until a day after I needed it. Turned out the trailer is available but they can’t get it to Maidstone by Monday, so off to Reading on Monday morning when I could be doing many other things at work to get ready for our trip. 
I pull for a french firm and all of the trailers are 4.2mtr on my unit. I did for a couple of years do traction for transalliance pulling megas and they were 4.35 mtr on the standard unit I was driving. Had no problems running all over France but was very aware!
'ere muckles, if your boss is a multi millionaire get him to buy a spare trailer, there’s a couple in trucklocator i picked up a copy last week in lincoln farm and they are going for less than 2000 quid. nothing fancy but you can change the wheels for flashy alcoas and paint it up to your liking 
welshboyinspain:
'ere muckles, if your boss is a multi millionaire get him to buy a spare trailer, there’s a couple in trucklocator i picked up a copy last week in lincoln farm and they are going for less than 2000 quid. nothing fancy but you can change the wheels for flashy alcoas and paint it up to your liking
We have been looking around for a secondhand boxvan and several companies will do a re-furbish for a couple of grand extra, but there are several reasons why we went down the hire trailer route.
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Timescales, Despite knowing they would need more transport for this year and myself and others telling them to sort something out, it was still left to the last moment.
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Originally they were thinking of buying a rigid race car transporter, However decent one are rare and expensive and as I pointed out we need it to haul flight cases and various other bits of gear, not the car. A box van with a tail lift is more suitable for this. Being motorsport people they hadn’t really thought along those lines.
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My boss now is really like the idea of a boxvan trailer, but doesn’t like what’s on offer, what he really likes is something that looks like a fridge trailer with a pallet carrier and a big tuck away tail lift and barn doors. but without the fridge. So he’s now waiting hoping that something like that will turn up.
He was thinking of getting a new race transporter trailer built next year, but maybe he’ll just get a box van built to his spec instead, although the chief mechanic is likely to have a fit if he does as he wants a new all singing and dancing transporter. -
One of the reason people with money have money is they are carefull with it. (being polite
) It took me all my time to get him to go £10,000 over his budget to get a tractor unit. Finally ended up with a 2007 FH Globetrotter XL. The budget he gave me would have meant getting something like a 2004 Globetrotter XL with near 1 million km’s. It had to be a Globetrotter XL as that’s what he likes and we already have a 2003 FH12 and he wants a matching pair.
What really galvanised him into action was the fact he was spending a fortune to hire an 18 tonne box van.
there’s a dealer in granada got two race transporters for sale, opposite the airport next to the mercedes dealer but not sure of their name, there is a rental company on site as well called rentrucks. try google and it might come up.
postcode is 18320 santa fe, there’s a fuel station called edol but i can’t remember the dealers name 
the trailers have radical on them, don’t know if thats the trailer make or what?
Can you PM me a weblink to your team please Muckles.
welshboyinspain:
postcode is 18320 santa fe, there’s a fuel station called edol but i can’t remember the dealers name
the trailers have radical on them, don’t know if thats the trailer make or what?
Found the Rentrucks website, but not anything else, Radical is a race series
http://www.radicalsportscars.com/uk/?loadnews=intl
To be honest though we’re better off with a box van, to carry our stuff, far easier to load than a transporter, we only really now have to put the car, tool boxes, spares and coffee machine on the transporter.
I’m also quite critical of the design of a lot of the race transporters, they are to heavy and the weight is poorly distributed. The amount of times I’ve £250,000 race transporters on the side of the road with blow outs.
The problem is that the people who spec them are normally the team bosses who are more interested in a big plush office than a trailer that actually works on the road. this pushes loads of weight onto the rear axles they then want small wheels and twin axles to save space and then they cover the tyres. So it all heats up and then bang tyre goes, and wheel covers dissapear across the motorway. And your nice steady run to the track turns into a push.
Can you PM me a weblink to your team please Muckles.
I’ve got nothing to hide. I’ll tell the whole of trucknet.
http://www.jotasport.com/Jota_Sport/Home.html
This is the truck and race transporter, it’s a Chereau trailer. They branched out of fridge trailer a few years ago. Some good ideas on it that come from their haulage trailer experience.
http://www.jotasport.com/Jota_Sport/Gallery/Pages/2010_Britcar_24_Hours.html#14