Car and trailer licence changes

tom_k

Hey all,

I did a quick search and I don't think any one has posted about this in the Motors forum although it has been mentioned in the Sailing and Boating forum.

Basically the gist of it is this...

Anyone who has been born before 13th November 1972 and has held a full (Irish) driving licence for a car before 13th November 1989 may now apply for a car and trailer licence if they did not do so at the time of application.

Due to the dates involved this will only apply to the slightly older amongst us. However, people may wish to inform older friends or relatives of this change.

The closing date to apply is 8th November 2013 so that only leaves a week from today.

Details and the downloadable form are available at

http://www.rsa.ie/Utility/News/2013/Car-and-Trailer-Driving-Licence-Changes/

Apologies and feel free to delete if this topic has been covered already.

Also, I'd like to state that I don't wish to start a debate on the rights and wrongs of obtaining this licence without a test. I just wish to make this information known as I don't think it's been widely reported.

Thanks, Tom.

ploughman

Im not sure who or where to ask;

Does anyone know if you have a B licence and go straight for a C or C1 licence will that cover the BE licence requirement? It seems to be a grey area..

Mycroft H

ploughman wrote: »

Im not sure who or where to ask;

Does anyone know if you have a B licence and go straight for a C or C1 licence will that cover the BE licence requirement? It seems to be a grey area..

No. A C(E), ie. an Artic licence will grant you a B(E) licence but a C1/C wont.

KwackerJack

Im confused!!

Can you not tow trailer on a B licence??

corktina

that's because an artic includes a trailer by definition.

You'd need to take a separate test to tow a large car trailer on a B or a trailer on a C I guess.

visual

That was a very short window to apply if you where eligible.

olkiny

Has anyone heard from the RSA since applying for the trailer license? I haven't!

Silvera

I came across the RSA newspaper advert re the pre-1989 BE licence applications.

My question is - why is there a "closing date" for applications?

Surely if a driver qualifies they should be able to apply to have
B+E added to their licence at any point in the future??

e.g. a driver may decide to by a jeep and horsebox in 2 years time
and apply for the B+E addition to their licence at that stage

visual

RSA is the clue and why its been badly administrated.

homingbird

I have W on my licence but not trailer with car. Considering i can pull a large load with a tractor i should be allowed a trailer with a car!!!

guil

homingbird wrote: »

I have W on my licence but not trailer with car. Considering i can pull a large load with a tractor i should be allowed a trailer with a car!!!

Everyone who passes a B test can get W or that was the case when I passed mine. Also a 16 year old can get W and pull a trailer with a 20ton digger on it with no training whatsoever.

Del2005

homingbird wrote: »

I have W on my licence but not trailer with car. Considering i can pull a large load with a tractor i should be allowed a trailer with a car!!!

The fact that you can legally tow several tonnes on W without ever sitting a test is the next licence issue that they need to fix. You can tow a trailer with a car, you just need the correct category depending on it's MAN and the DGVW of the tow car.

V.W.L 11

surely if you have a full C/D licence surely a car trailer wouldnt be an issue e.g if you have a D licence you can drive a bus with up to nearly 80 people yet cant tow a trailer over 750kg and before you say it i know its articulated and the C/D licences are for rigid bodies

buzz11

BUMP

Has anyone received a reply back from the RSA on this?

A friend who also applied received a document "Affidavit in relation to driving licence entitlements" which basically he had to get witnesses and return to the RSA

_Brian

KwackerJack wrote: »

Im confused!!

Can you not tow trailer on a B licence??

Yes you can..
Combined DGVW (designed gross vehicle weight)of the combined trailer and towing vehicle can be no more than 3500kg. In real terms this limits B licence holders to single axle trailers.

mullingar

+1.

For the majority of time a B licence restricts you to a single axle trailer.

The bottom line is you are only allowed to tow to a maximum 3500kg DGVW of the car & trailer combined. DGVW is the Design Gross Vehicle Weight. Basically is what the maximum weights the car and trailer can tow. Therefore you cannot tow any trailer, even empty, that's designed to carry a load+weight of trailer of 1.5t+ if your car has a DGVW of 2.0t.

I said

Have to do theory test to apply for the trailer licence (double axel).€45 euros it costs.

mullingar

The number of axles is completely irrelevant to a B or BE licences. It's only to do with weights.

I said

mullingar wrote: »

The number of axles is completely irrelevant to a B or BE licences. It's only to do with weights.

I need one for the trailer I have previous poster is spot on basically double axel a licence is needed they bring you over the limit

CiniO

I said wrote: »

I need one for the trailer I have previous poster is spot on basically double axel a licence is needed they bring you over the limit

I've seen some double axle trailers with GVW from 1200kg and over.
Most 1400kg trailers are double axle.
Yet, my car with 1890kg GVW, can tow 1500kg GVW trailer, perfectly legal on B licence. Then in my case, I don't need BE licence for that kind of double axle trailer.

Silvera

It's not right that there is a 'closing date' for people to add B+E to their licences?!

I took/passed my C+E test recently so as to add all trailer categories to my licence. It costs more than simply going for B+E lessons/test, but means that I can now tow any size/weight vehicle+trailer combination.