Guards stopping cars towing trailers

kincaid

The Gardai were stopping cars towing twin axle trailers and giving out fines last weekend in Monaghan i was told...
they were specially stopping farmers who were going to the mart with cattle...
i heard this from a guy so not 100% its true

shogunpower

alot of people dont have the licence for a trailer thats why.

taintabird

kincaid wrote: »

The Gardai were stopping cars towing twin axle trailers and giving out fines last weekend in Monaghan i was told...
they were specially stopping farmers who were going to the mart with cattle...
i heard this from a guy so not 100% its true

I heard of that in other places too checking for correct driving licences and vehicle weights as well .

gyppo

Provided the trailer is roadworthy wrt brakes, lights, etc.., maximum laded weight not exceeded, and proper insurance cover exists, what is the problem with farmers towing livestock trailers?

taintabird

gyppo wrote: »

Provided the trailer is roadworthy wrt brakes, lights, etc.., maximum laded weight not exceeded, and proper insurance cover exists, what is the problem with farmers towing livestock trailers?

None once all the above criteria are met. You would be surprised how many people not just farmers don't have the appropriate licence which in turn causes an insurance issue.

kincaid

oh guy says that you need a 4wd jeep to tow a twin axle now...
hes not purchased a 96 trooper 3.1, he has the proper licence,
were stopping going into ballybay livestock mart last weekend he said

tankbarry

they took a trailer off some guy in Waterford on saturday about half 1 in the day... 4 cars lined up too.. Tow truck was there taking 2 cars when I was on my way back..

Padraig Mor

May potentially be a clampdown following a fatal crash in Cork the other week involving a small van (Caddy) towing a livestock trailer (not making any judgement about the cause of the crash, as I simply don't know).

CiniO

Single axle or twin axle has nothing to do with it.
It's all about max permissable weights.
You can tow trailer up to 750kg on regular B licence.
Or you can tow heavier trailer, assuming it's gross vehicle weight doesn't exceed the unladen weight of the towing car, and the sum of GVW of trailer and car is not greater then 3.5 tonne.
Then you are legal with B licence.
You have to remember as well, that trailer weight can't exceed the limit specified by car manufacturer which the car can tow.

If you obey all above conditions, you are legal with regular B lcience, no matter how many axles trailel has.

CiniO

CiniO wrote: »

Single axle or twin axle has nothing to do with it.
It's all about max permissable weights.
You can tow trailer up to 750kg on regular B licence.

True

CiniO wrote: »

Or you can tow heavier trailer, assuming it's gross vehicle weight doesn't exceed the unladen weight of the towing car, and the sum of GVW of trailer and car is not greater then 3.5 tonne.
Then you are legal with B licence.
You have to remember as well, that trailer weight can't exceed the limit specified by car manufacturer which the car can tow.

If you obey all above conditions, you are legal with regular B lcience, no matter how many axles trailel has.

I don't think so, if that is correct whats E for on the license ?

BrianD3

Cinio is correct. Assuming we're talking about trailers >750 kg MAM, an E+B licence is for situations where you wish to tow a trailer that has MAM greater than the unladen weight of the towing vehicle. Or if you wish to tow a trailer where the MAM of the towcar + trailer is >3500 kg.

If the Gardai are enforcing the law relating to trailers, that's good. The standard of trailers on our roads is shocking. The worst offenders in my experience are farmers and those towing livestock. Trailers are often home made heaps of scrap with no number plates, defective lights and towed with inappropriate vehicles driven by people who may not have the correct licence. Also nobody knows what the MAM of the trailer is so how do they know if it's overloaded or if they have the correct licence.

taintabird

CiniO wrote: »

Single axle or twin axle has nothing to do with it.
It's all about max permissable weights.
You can tow trailer up to 750kg on regular B licence.
Or you can tow heavier trailer, assuming it's gross vehicle weight doesn't exceed the unladen weight of the towing car, and the sum of GVW of trailer and car is not greater then 3.5 tonne.
Then you are legal with B licence.
You have to remember as well, that trailer weight can't exceed the limit specified by car manufacturer which the car can tow.

If you obey all above conditions, you are legal with regular B lcience, no matter how many axles trailel has.

True providing the trailer doesn't exceed 750KG when fully loaded.

B licence :Vehicles with seats for up to 8 passengers and a maximum weight of 3,500kg (includes pulling a trailer where the maximum weight of the trailer when fully loaded is 750kg or less)

EB licence : Vehicles in category B with a trailer ie over 750 KG

danbohan

kincaid wrote: »

The Gardai were stopping cars towing twin axle trailers and giving out fines last weekend in Monaghan i was told...
they were specially stopping farmers who were going to the mart with cattle...
i heard this from a guy so not 100% its true

well of course it much easier to get an old farmer with a trailer for a few quid than to pick up mr drumm when he pops in and out to the country he stole 10 million euro + from

Gary ITR

danbohan wrote: »

well of course it much easier to get an old farmer with a trailer for a few quid than to pick up mr drumm when he pops in and out to the country he stole 10 million euro + from

Please stick to the topic at hand

CiniO

taintabird wrote: »

True providing the trailer doesn't exceed 750KG when fully loaded.

B licence :Vehicles with seats for up to 8 passengers and a maximum weight of 3,500kg (includes pulling a trailer where the maximum weight of the trailer when fully loaded is 750kg or less)

EB licence : Vehicles in category B with a trailer ie over 750 KG

You are not right.

You can tow heavier trailer on B licence, provided the conditions I outlined earlier are fulfilled.

There was few thread here some time ago about it.
If you are interested find them. I quoted exact law there.

CiniO

RoverJames wrote: »

True


I don't think so, if that is correct whats E for on the license ?

EB licence is for towing heavier trailers than B licence allows to tow.
But it still doesn't allow to tow a trailer heavier than car manufacturer specified as the heavies trailer for that vehicle.

Example:

If your car weights 1000kg itself, and it's GVW is 1500kg, then you can tow a trailer of GVW (gross vehicle weight) up to 1000kg. Because traile GVW is not greater then car unladen weight, and the sum of GVW of both vehicles is 2500kg, so it's less then 3500kg. It's all on B licence.
But if the car manufacturer specified that max trailer weight is 900kg, then under no circumstances heavier trailer can be towed, no matter if driver holds B or EB licence.

kincaid

ok so do that apply to tractors as well..
at 17 you can drive a tractor and i see many young lads towing over 20 foot twin and treble axle trailers with a 13ton plus track machine on it... different category altogether..
alot of them would not even have passed their car driving tests...
some of these tractors can reach speeds up to 55/60kph,,,

freighter

Its no harm. I am sick of these farmers with their cowboxes crawling the dyke of the road with no lights or markings whatsoever and cowdung flowing out all over the road.

kincaid

yes but where does the law stand on this... young guys driving a vehicle towing over a 20-25ft trailer with up to 18ton on top and driving at 55kph ... same nearly as driving a lorry with a trailer really but with no test, liccence, no experience nothing...are they clamping down too on this..

freighter

kincaid wrote: »

yes but where does the law stand on this... young guys driving a vehicle towing over a 20-25ft trailer with up to 18ton on top and driving at 55kph ... same nearly as driving a lorry with a trailer really but with no test, liccence, no experience nothing...are they clamping down too on this..

They are in the next few months along with tractors on the Motorway etc.

eire-kp

I was stopped at a check point before with a defender towing a 1.5 ton mini digger and asked for the trailer licence and as i had the EC licence all was good.

I asked the guard what would he have done if i hadn't got the licence...he said that he was letting people away with a warning for them moment.

He admitted that it was just as well that the EB licence used to be granted automatically or the law would be impossible to enforce as the vast amount of older people who got it that way would just ignore it and keep driving regardless.

kincaid

yes once you got the EC your automatically entitled to the EB...think its €400 to do the EB at present

waxon-waxoff

I dont think its fair to pick on farmers with bad trailers, the standard of trailers on the roads of Ireland is very poor. Some of the biggest offenders are the people who use a small single axle trailer once a year to go to the dump or buy bags of coal etc. Flimsy wooden build, no number plate and broken lights is the norm. Builders and utility companies who use trailers every days usually keep them in good order.

The thought of the theory test and driving test all over again is not going to encourage anybody to apply for the EB so this is an issue thats not going away anytime soon. I was going to get a trailer and apply for the EB but didnt have the patience and use a van instead.

Eric Cartman

kincaid wrote: »

yes once you got the EC your automatically entitled to the EB...think its €400 to do the EB at present

400 euro to do an EB, its just a B licence test with a trailor and reversing around a corner with it ... id say its the same price as a B licence

shogunpower

kincaid wrote: »

ok so do that apply to tractors as well..
at 17 you can drive a tractor and i see many young lads towing over 20 foot twin and treble axle trailers with a 13ton plus track machine on it... different category altogether..
alot of them would not even have passed their car driving tests...
some of these tractors can reach speeds up to 55/60kph,,,

cant you do all that at 16 on a tractor permit?

peasant

CiniO wrote: »

If your car weights 1000kg itself, and it's GVW is 1500kg, then you can tow a trailer of GVW (gross vehicle weight) up to 1000kg.

I believe that over a GVW of 750 kg the trailer would also have to be braked to be legal (too lazy to look it up now).

The amount of 1 ton prize bulls* floating along in rickety unbraked trailers is unreal

* replace with loads of gravel/sand/cement or other heavy home improvement materials as appropriate

CiniO

peasant wrote: »

I believe that over a GVW of 750 kg the trailer would also have to be braked to be legal (too lazy to look it up now).

The amount of 1 ton prize bulls* floating along in rickety unbraked trailers is unreal

* replace with loads of gravel/sand/cement or other heavy home improvement materials as appropriate

Obviously it has to have brakes.
AFAIK car manufacturers specify the maximum trailer weight, and maximum trailer weight without brakes, which might be even under 750kg.
But I don't think it's legal to tow a trailer over 750kg without brakes.

peasant

CiniO wrote: »

Obviously it has to have brakes.

Obvious to you and me maybe ...but not to many other people going by the "standard" of trailers that I see around here.

I hired one the other day from a local company.
Twin axle, no lights (sure, they'd only get broken), no plate(s), no brakes but easily big enough for carrying ~ 2tons of sand or gravel and by the looks of it it had done so many a times.

(me, I only drove a few rotten planks of wood to the dump but even at that I was taking it very handy with this unbraked lump)

slimjimmc

waxon-waxoff wrote: »

I dont think its fair to pick on farmers with bad trailers, the standard of trailers on the roads of Ireland is very poor. Some of the biggest offenders are the people who use a small single axle trailer once a year to go to the dump or buy bags of coal etc. Flimsy wooden build, no number plate and broken lights is the norm. Builders and utility companies who use trailers every days usually keep them in good order.

The thought of the theory test and driving test all over again is not going to encourage anybody to apply for the EB so this is an issue thats not going away anytime soon. I was going to get a trailer and apply for the EB but didnt have the patience and use a van instead.

I've seen more than a fair share of 'professional' trailers with defective lights and plates. Many of these guys can't afford to take a trailer out of service for repairs because they need it, and many of those who don't need it can no longer afford the repairs.

niamhocxox

I agree that they should clamp down on people towing trailers when they don't have a licence to do so.

However, I went into my local Garda station on Saturday to information about getting a trailer licence and the Gard was literally no help. :rolleyes:

For example, he didn't know if I needed to do a theory test for it.

When I asked where I could get lessons because I cannot find an instructor in my area he suggested I "teach myself".

I have read that because I'll be driving a 08 jeep I need to tow an inclosed trailer. Yet again the Gard didn't even know about this. He was like "are you sure?" etc :rolleyes:

Eric Cartman

slimjimmc wrote: »

I've seen more than a fair share of 'professional' trailers with defective lights and plates. Many of these guys can't afford to take a trailer out of service for repairs because they need it, and many of those who don't need it can no longer afford the repairs.

you can order plates online and a set of britax or similar light clusters would take less than an hour to fix if their dead or 5 mins if its the bulbs - no excuse for them being broken , brakes are expensive but necessary , no excuse there either

mullingar

The original thread that discussed this before is here:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056065184&highlight=towing

Bottom line (from Cinio) was a quote from the Irish Statute book:

S.I. No 537 of 2006 http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2006/en/si/0537.html

Road Traffic (Licensing of Drivers) Regulations 2006
Quote:
7. (1) A combination of vehicles which consists of a drawing vehicle and a trailer shall, for the purpose of these Regulations, be regarded as a vehicle -


(a) in category B, where the drawing vehicle is in category B and the design gross vehicle weight of the trailer does not exceed the unladen weight of the drawing vehicle and the total design gross vehicle weight of the combination does not exceed 3,500 kg,


(b) in category B, C1, C, D1 or D, where the drawing vehicle is in category B, C1, C, D1, or D, respectively, and the design gross vehicle weight of the trailer does not exceed 750 kg, or
The limit to 3500kg applies to both GVW of car and trailer.

A car & trailer up to <3500kg can be driven on a B licence ONLY if the car and trailer follow the rules