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Towing regulations


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Can anyone give a definitive answer.

I know (think) that towing a car using an 'A' frame ( the type that lifts the front wheels off the ground) is not allowed in France, or rather, is not allowed for a French registered vehicle in France.

I have read that towing in France, with a French registered vehicle is OK if all 4 wheels of the towed vehicle are on the road, even using a rigid A frame type towbar if the brakes of the towed vehicle are fully effective whilst on tow.

Can anyone confirm the above point or give me a link to confirm it. I don't want hearsay etc but true legal information as I am likely to spend a great deal of money depending on the result. It would be a tad upsetting to end up wasting the money.
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Definition problems -

A device that lifts the front wheels is a dolly.

A device that leaves all 4 wheels on the ground is an A-frame.

Neither are legal in France. Full Stop. Although thats with an exception I will get to at the end.

Motorhome dealerships and the places that manufacture A-frames to allow you to tow a wee car behind one will tell you they are legal, but they are wrong/lying. Not exactly in their interest to tell you its illegal is it?

Any towed vehicle with a GROSS weight over 750 kgs needs to have inertia activated, auto-reverse, over-run brakes on all four wheels that provide equal brake effort to all four wheels. Its literally impossible for this to apply to a car.

A frame manufacturers have various systems usually involving a cable fitted to the towed car to pull the brake pedal down or yank the handbrake cables or something. These are hopeless and nowhere near to complying with the trailer laws.

The exception is a towed car with a GROSS weight under 750kgs. Note thats not the kerb weight, but the gross weight....car, full tank of fuel, maximum number of passengers and luggage etc as stated on the chassis plate.

Good luck finding any car under 750kgs gross, with the possible exception of some buggies and maybe those sans permis deathtraps. I think even a basic classic Mini is over 800.

That said....You would probably get away with it as long as your outfit looks reasonable....ie you are not towing a transit van with a 206. During tourist season you will see dozens of such moterhomes on the roads.

I have an A-frame myself that I still use a lot despite also having a proper transporter trailer. An A-frame is an actual joy to tow with and inherintly stable at any speed, unlike a trailer.

In my personal opinion, dollys are a lot less stable, harder to use and have no real benefits over an A-frame.

In use I have passed many police and never been pulled up, except once when I got bollocked by the cozzers who didnt seem entirely sure what to bollock me for, but did so anyway.

Most people are not even aware of the existence of A-frames and when I use mine I get asked about it pretty much every time. Last vehicle I bought and collected with it, the seller was so gobsmacked he insisted I give him a demo round the block with him sitting in the towed car. He asked where I got mine from so I told him what to search for on ebay UK.

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Hi Dave, a very comprehensive reply, thank you. However, do you live in France and tow with a French registered vehicle ? The reason I ask specifically is because they are legal in UK and hence, under International law ( The Vienna Convention ???? ) it is legal to use one on holiday in other countries.

I have been investigating a type of A frame which someway or another operates the towed car brakes via a servo that seems to duplicate the servo fitted to the car. It is said to meet the braking regulations. Not cheap but IF true would it be legal.
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Oh dear.

They are NOT legal in the UK. Exactly the same regulations apply.

As I said for the braking requirements....auto-reverse, over run brakes applying equal force to all roadwheels......literally impossible on a car no matter what system is used to emulate the pressing of the brake pedal. Firstly mechanical auto reverse is obviously not possible to achieve with a cars calipers/drums. secondly equal force to all wheels is also impossible to achieve as cars have a large bias to the front, with very little braking effort on the rear.

Also the efficiency values required are way above what a car brakes (especially rear drums) can produce.

I can guarantee you that every single manufacturer / seller of these A-frames will have a "legal" blurb in their advertising somewhere and it is full of phrases like "we think that...." and "in our opinion.....".

I used to be one of those sellers.

There is an official .gov web page on the subject and if I remember rightly, even that starts with "We believe...." and ends with something like "Only the judge can decide."

It states that trailer brake requirements must be met, but doesnt list those specifically, you have to go digging through a nightmare of Construction and Use regulations to find the specifications required.

As I said though, there are thousands sold every year and on the roads every summer. They get away with it because to be honest, most police officers do not know the full extent of the applicable laws.

It all comes down to how much personal risk you are willing to take. 99.9% of the time you will be absolutely ok, but its that one time you encounter an over-zealous VOSA inspector at a motorway checkpoint, or have a serious accident involving injuries or fatalities where you find yourself in potential trouble.

I am not saying Dont Do It, just be aware of what the situation really is and make your choice. By the absolute letter of the law, they are not legal, but the exact law is so difficult to find and can be interpreted in different ways depending on your agenda...ie selling A-frames.....that its enough to confuse even the police.

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And dont even consider using one in Spain - despite what any laws may or may not state, they WILL have your trousers down with an exceedingly heavy fine. They are 100% intolerant of them there. I believe Germany are not keen on them either, but have no experience myself.

Other potential problems - the Peage in France. The system is not sophisticated enough to see the A-frame, it just thinks there is a second car trying to tailgate you through the barrier and will trigger an alarm.

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[quote user="dave21478"]And dont even consider using one in Spain - [/quote]

+1. In fact don't tow another car in Spain under any circumstances. It is totally illegal to tow anything except a trailer unless you have a licenced recovery vehicle.

You have to put a car onto an appropriate legal trailer to tow it.

I managed to cover about 100 metres towing a UK reg car with another UK reg. car before being stopped. Fortunately I was still within the ferry port, not yet on the public road, so got off with a severe warning.

How the car which required towing happened to be in the ferry port is another story...............

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This is oft debated on motorhome forums and the gist is exactly as has been said above - people trying desperately convince themselves and each other that they're legal, and the usual conclusion is, well maybe it's not exactly legal but people seem to get away with it.
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People desperately trying to convince themselves.................................

 

Ha-ha-ha, I am a master of that [:D] In my case its just a mental exercise so I will be prepared to justify the situation/browbeat/confuse the other person should I get stopped/called to account, it really makes me laugh when people seek external approval from others, if you cannot convince yourself you aint going to convince a flic at the side of the road!

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[quote user="dave21478"]Oh dear.

They are NOT legal in the UK. [/quote]

I am not sure you are correct anymore Dave since the overhaul of the EU regulations on type approval and specifically braking systems (EU directive 2014/45/EU) A frames are not type approved so fall outside of the regulations therefore the vehicle regulation applies (the towed vehicle) and providing the brakes operate as intended under the type approval for the vehicle i.e. the braking efficiency test of that vehicle then the towed vehicle complies.

Several A frame manufacturers have developed braking system adaptations that operate the towed vehicle brakes as the manufacturer has specified so comply in the UK.

Each European member state can set their own level i.e. raise above what has been passed under the EU directive as in the case of Spain where it is simply not allowed period.  To believe that a Gendame doesn't know how to carry out what is an easy nick of a tourist is some what churlish. I have seen lots of these A frames in use on French roads and also thought they were illegal, Towing dollies are but A frames with the additional braking systems and non French registered are not of interest to the police it seems.  

As with all things in the event of an accident sub text can always wriggle out of the woodwork but that is how I read up on it a while back out of my own interest for future touring plans.

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[quote user="dave21478"]other potential problems - the Peage in France. The system is not sophisticated enough to see the A-frame, it just thinks there is a second car trying to tailgate you through the barrier and will trigger an alarm.[/quote]

Come on, how does the peage work out if it's on a trailer or an A frame? 

Ans, it goes through just like a trailer does.

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It doesn't, actually.

In ten years, Three times I have tried and three times I have been stuck with the barrier down between vehicles, alarm sounding and eventually a grumpy employee turned up and told me I was breaking some law or other. Playing the "ignorant Brit abroad" card got me sent on my way with some new insults for my vocabulary.
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I believe Dave, he is not one to speculate or bulls**t, as someone that installed vehicle berriers I have studied closely how the French pelages operate, I see the loop detectors and their emplacements, I see the photocells at the two height levels and can see how the system operates and its very well thought out, lets vehicles with trailers through usually charging them the correct tarif yet drops the boom on tailgaters.

 

If you have a tall trailer and want to go through as a normal vehicle and not be charged then strategically placed reflective tape is your friend [I] preferably a long band so you dont have to be so precise when pulling up.

 

I have had a barrier drop on me, it was at a péage usually unmanned, I could not see anyone in the cabin so drove forward to the card reader and a boom between the two came down like a guillotine and thwacked the windscreen, scared the life out of me but thankfully it was only foam.

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In addition to the legality or otherwise of dollies and A frames there is of course insurance to consider, arguably the most important factor in the mix.

By default any such device must fall into the 500kg+ category which in France means registration and usually insurance under the tow vehicle's policy but the insurer will still want to see it's carte grise which you will be unable to provide hence no cover.

The only legal option I'm aware of for towing another vehicle is on a proper trailer.

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