Hi lads,
I was wondering what are the rules in towing a triple axle(car transporter 8m long) trailer behind a van(sprinter lwb), as far as I understand I need to have a tachograph fitted in the van(if Im wrong correct me)
But what happens when Im not pulling the trailer, do tacho rules still apply, or I drive it like a normal van?
This is the sort of trailer, that Im looking at - ebay.co.uk/itm/2-cars-car-va … 2a1ec60f0f
And another question about load capacity, if I have a lwb sprinter pulling, this sort of trailer, and the trailer has a lwb sprinter on it, will I be legal weight wise, or will I be over?
Tacho if towing commercially.
Seem to recall Sprinters can tow about 2.8T gross weight. I would think you’ll struggle to get under that with a triaxle trailer but you might just with a shorter lighter tandem. One in link is light enough to not need an o-licence though.
My answer would be only have the card in when you’re towing and make sure you remember you have if you drive any other in-scope vehicles in the working week. This might not be the official answer though.
Also a trailer of that length with something as high-sided on as a Sprinter could make for quite a choppy ride.
Just something to bear in mind!
Abolition of the small trailer exemption
Paragraph 3 of Schedule 1 of the Goods Vehicle (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995 exempts from operator licensing a ‘small goods vehicle’ forming part of a vehicle combination (not being an articulated combination) where all the vehicles comprising the combination excluding any ‘small trailer’ have a plated weight not exceeding 3.5 tonnes.
A small trailer is defined under the Act as a trailer with an unladen weight not exceeding 1020kg. This trailer does not need to be included when calculating the 3.5 tonne limit.
However, under the Regulation all the vehicle combination (including any trailer) operating for hire or reward must be included when calculating the weight limit, so the small trailer exemption will be abolished for hire or reward operations from 4 December 2011. However, the small trailer exemption under paragraph 3 of schedule 1 of the Goods Vehicle (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995 will remain in place for operators carrying goods other than for hire or reward.
Speaking from experience, three things:
That sized trailer with a Sprinter van on it needs to be towed by something bigger than a Sprinter van, you’ll get pulled all over the road. You won’t enjoy driving it. These sized trailers were designed to go behind 7.5 tonners.
Check the tyre sizes, I’d bet a fiver they’re oddball sizes (225/45/12). You try getting them from a tyre fitter when you’re sat in a layby with 2x blowouts. They’ll be special order tyres, usually ordered from the continent. Of the 6 commercial tyre fitters I rang, only one actually recognised the tyre size, they had to be ordered from Germany with a 4 day lead time. Not what you want to hear on a Friday night.
Following on from that, see how many recovery companies can actually recover that sized trailer should it need a full lift (tyre/axle/wheel bearing/drawbar/hitch problems). Only realistic option is to go on a slide axle recovery trailer (needs a very low loading angle due to the length/height off the ground). The AA Truck Network pay their recovery contractors £90 an hour for the use of a slide axle trailer, so expect your bill to be more than that.
We have run a couple of single car trailers behind our rigid trucks & up until recently we have towed them behind our van but as the law has been changed we’ve decided against doing this to save extending our o licence…
The 3 axle trailer can be a pig even behind our elwb sprinter.
A 7.5t is the way to go.
With a 4x4 also you will struggle to be within the laws as they are now.
Sorry no good news really regarding vans/4x4’s & trailers & the regs are a nitemare 
tiger65:
Just something to bear in mind!
Abolition of the small trailer exemption
Paragraph 3 of Schedule 1 of the Goods Vehicle (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995 exempts from operator licensing a ‘small goods vehicle’ forming part of a vehicle combination (not being an articulated combination) where all the vehicles comprising the combination excluding any ‘small trailer’ have a plated weight not exceeding 3.5 tonnes.
A small trailer is defined under the Act as a trailer with an unladen weight not exceeding 1020kg. This trailer does not need to be included when calculating the 3.5 tonne limit.
However, under the Regulation all the vehicle combination (including any trailer) operating for hire or reward must be included when calculating the weight limit, so the small trailer exemption will be abolished for hire or reward operations from 4 December 2011. However, the small trailer exemption under paragraph 3 of schedule 1 of the Goods Vehicle (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995 will remain in place for operators carrying goods other than for hire or reward.
I assumed OP was regarding own account work.
Yes, as VOSA says if you’re towing for hire and reward you need a tacho and if you’re then towing for proper hire and reward you need an o-licence.
If it was regular hire and reward work needing an o-licence I’d go fo a 5/7.5ton truck. Carefully selected though as LWB Sprinters themselves need quite a shallow loading angle, even worse if they have a towbar fitted.
If it’s just one off now and again own account stuff I’d go for a trailer like this:
You can just about squeeze one on if it’s well strapped on and it will behave itself ok-ish behind another Sprinter with some ballast thrown in the back. Still plenty of potential for squeaky bum time on long downhills or heavy tramlines though. You’ll also be able to sell it easily for not much less than you paid for it.
Vosa getting hot now
As of end of last year need operator licence and tacho If pulling trailer for hire reward
Or if own goods then restricted o licence
gettin-on:
Vosa getting hot now
As of end of last year need operator licence and tacho If pulling trailer for hire reward
Or if own goods then restricted o licence
have u got a link to that then??
OWN good bit if you are a company delivering your own goods
not joe public with a trailer on taking stuff to tip etc
extracted from vosa moving on magazine and was mentioned on vosa semimar i attended this year
before December 2011.
Small Trailers
Since 4th December 2011, small trailers towed by a vehicle under 3.5 tonnes and used for hire or reward are no longer exempt from operator licensing. Therefore, if you are carrying other people’s goods for hire or reward (e.g. working as a courier or freight transport business), the weight calculation must now include any trailer attached (irrespective of the trailer’s weight). If the vehicle and trailer combination exceeds 3.5 tonnes gros plated weight — or where there is no plated weight, exceeds an unladen weight of more than 1525 kg — a standard O-licence will be required.
The original exemption for a trailer with an unladen weight of less than 1,020 kg still applies as before where the person using it is not carrying other peoples’ goods for hire or reward. In such cases, the weight of the trailer can be ignored for the purposes of adding up the total gross weights or unladen weights to determine whether an operator’s licence is required.
Extracted from Moving On magazine
You would only need a restricted o-licence if the unladen weight of the trailer was over 1020kg. That would exempt the majority of people on own account work from o-licensing.
jayeastanglia:
gettin-on:
Vosa getting hot now
As of end of last year need operator licence and tacho If pulling trailer for hire reward
Or if own goods then restricted o licence
have u got a link to that then??
transportsfriend.org/pdf_files/lgv/gv74.pdf (You need to make sure you’re looking at the most recent Dec 2011 version, not any of the older ones on other government websites)
But I don’t agree with gettin-on that you need a restricted ‘o’ licence for the small trailer with own goods. The way VOSA have interpreted the recent change to the small trailer excemption seems to be that if your activies are own-account, then you can still ignore small trailers, but if they’re not own-account, then you need to consider the trailer when adding up weights.
For the tacho rules, there wasn’t a small trailer exemption anyway.
As someone else said, running <3.5t vehicles with trailers it’s fast becoming impossible to pick a compliant way through the rules - it’s uneconomic to fit a tacho in most second-hand 4x4s for example. We’ve come to the conclusion that for towing we might as well run things like 5 tonne Sprinters, which have a useful train weight and are unambiguously inside tacho / o-licensing.
This trailer can only be towed legally by a C1 vehicle and licence holder. Cat B towing bed not to exceed 7 metres, C1 vehicle bed length 11 metres. Tachograph required when driving with or with trailer and O licence required.
Despite all the tightening with commercial trailer towing they have actually just increased the width limit I believe.
I think it’s now possible to tow an empty 20ft box behind a Land Rover on a flatbed trailer - not that I’d want to any great distance.
wilbur:
jayeastanglia:
gettin-on:
Vosa getting hot now
As of end of last year need operator licence and tacho If pulling trailer for hire reward
Or if own goods then restricted o licence
have u got a link to that then??
transportsfriend.org/pdf_files/lgv/gv74.pdf (You need to make sure you’re looking at the most recent Dec 2011 version, not any of the older ones on other government websites)
But I don’t agree with gettin-on that you need a restricted ‘o’ licence for the small trailer with own goods. The way VOSA have interpreted the recent change to the small trailer excemption seems to be that if your activies are own-account, then you can still ignore small trailers, but if they’re not own-account, then you need to consider the trailer when adding up weights.
For the tacho rules, there wasn’t a small trailer exemption anyway.
As someone else said, running <3.5t vehicles with trailers it’s fast becoming impossible to pick a compliant way through the rules - it’s uneconomic to fit a tacho in most second-hand 4x4s for example. We’ve come to the conclusion that for towing we might as well run things like 5 tonne Sprinters, which have a useful train weight and are unambiguously inside tacho / o-licensing.
I think this is why tired old 5t Dailys/Mascotts that no-one used to want are going for so much.