Changes to towing rules incoming

[[TW]Fox]

Time, money, effort?

To be fair I don’t think I’d be particularly confident towing anything like a caravan or a big trailer without some training/practice somewhere.

I think anyone that thinks training to be able to tow a large trailer behind a car with large animals in is too much time and effort shouldn't be allowed to tow anything.

This is the problem with this change, it opens up towing to people for whom a quick training course was simply too much for them in the past. Very concerning.

 

[GinG]

Being a caravanner this is great news as it will save me the hassle and cost of taking the test and frees up the choice of car/caravan we can choose.

 

[adam cool dude]

The stupidity of this move defies logic, in other words, newly qualified articulated truck drivers will no longer be tested to see they can reverse a trailer safely, nor have to show they can couple or uncouple it correctly.
To remove two of the most safety critical aspects of a Heavy Goods Vehicle licence test is unbelievably short sighted , stupid and downright dangerous.
Not to mention the damage this will do to driver training schools, a crazy unthought through “solution” to a problem caused by historical poor pay across the industry.
Solve the driver shortage by qualifying drivers who don't need to know how to reverse? bravo, well done to our political “Leaders”

I have my Class 2 test next Friday and I for one would still want to do the two part test and luckily I will.

The main problem is the waiting time on the admin side of things. Not the testing itself. I applied for the provisional end of June and didn't get it back till beginning of August. Mainly due to the government's inability to manage Covid at their DVLA center. I also couldn't get a medical for love nor money due to GP's hiding behind covid so ended up going private. Booking my Theory test was relatively quick and got a test within a week and then booking my practical test only took 3 weeks.

All in all it would have taken me roughly 6 weeks to do my actual practical but the admin side of it would have taken 6+ weeks itself.

This is simply a knee jerk reaction whereas the reality is the admin side of things needs fixing to get people in quicker. Also as you have said wages needs will be the only driver to get people doing the job. I have seen it in my current area of work. Wages have been driven down by the huge wave of cheap foreign labour and since 31st June it has been impossible to get people in. Those places are going to have to increase workers conditions and wages as well.

 

[Dangerous Dave]

I don't think it will make a huge difference the test itself is pretty easy and is done with an empty trailer it doesn't prepare you for moving a loaded trailer around.

The people who continue to drive with overloaded trailers/unsuitable tow vehicles etc likely ignored the requirement for the B+E entitlement before this change.

 

[Resident]

Now if they can throw me a D1 entitlement pretty please lol

Trust me, I have and use D1, you don't want it

I have my Class 2 test next Friday and I for one would still want to do the two part test and luckily I will.

The main problem is the waiting time on the admin side of things. Not the testing itself. I applied for the provisional end of June and didn't get it back till beginning of August. Mainly due to the government's inability to manage Covid at their DVLA center. I also couldn't get a medical for love nor money due to GP's hiding behind covid so ended up going private. Booking my Theory test was relatively quick and got a test within a week and then booking my practical test only took 3 weeks.

All in all it would have taken me roughly 6 weeks to do my actual practical but the admin side of it would have taken 6+ weeks itself.

This is simply a knee jerk reaction whereas the reality is the admin side of things needs fixing to get people in quicker. Also as you have said wages needs will be the only driver to get people doing the job. I have seen it in my current area of work. Wages have been driven down by the huge wave of cheap foreign labour and since 31st June it has been impossible to get people in. Those places are going to have to increase workers conditions and wages as well.

What annoys me about these revelations is that they were also supposed to consider granting C1 (Class2) to existing D holders and yet there was nothing mentioned at all in the annoucement.

I personally find it a bit daft that as a D licence holder I can drive a 60ft long, 19ton coach but I can't 'legally' drive a 30ft rigid truck.

 

[jigger]

Getting mixed up with C+E nvm

 

[Scania]

The reversing part of the test is a joke anyway. Its usually carried out in the test centre with cones laid out where you have to reverse into a spot about a trucks length behind you and 10 or 15 feet to the side of you and getting the back of the truck level with an area a couple of feet across. Its pretty easy to pass just by practice and remembering when to turn the wheel. It is in no way an adequate test and should have been ditched in favour of real life situations like backing between other trailers or reversing into a side road.

Not sure I agree with the coupling/uncoupling being ditched. There have been countless deaths of drivers because they havent hooked up in a safe manner, usually while trying to save time, it really should be a critical part of the test.

Reversing and coupling/uncoupling should be part of any decent companies assessment anyway, so it looks like they a passing the buck to business.

The changes really won't do anything to address the shortage, which as Scania points out, is down to poor pay, and even worse conditions.

The reversing test is frankly as joke already but, at least it teaches you the basics of reversing an artic and the technique(s) needed, they (HGV driving schools) concentrate on this part of the test - which is by a long way the hardest part - an awful lot as without getting the reverse right, you currently and rightly will fail.

So, the Govornment remove the hardest part of the test, how many training schools are going to put the same time and effort in to ensure drivers can reverse properly prior to the new test? Very few.

I'm sure a few of the better ones will to start with but they'll find themselves quickly undercut by schools conveniently skipping this to get more applicants through the test.

Yes, the existing test is inadequate already and the only way you really learn properly is in real life situations, i.e. once you've passed, but, to remove the requirement just means the standard of a newly passed drivers reversing is going to go from crap to non existant.

We've had a recruitment open day today at work, I was talking to a prospective new employee who was delighted that the reversing part of the test was gone as its the thing he's failed on twice previously, which sums it up rather well to me.

Previously, he was prevented from driving an artic as he plainly wasn't upto the reversing part, now he'll have an artic license yet still being not able to reverse, it's absolutely nuts.

 

[cheesyboy]

Why didn't she just take the test?

Couldn't get a booking for about 6+ months. Only started the towing last year.

 

[rpmmatt]

We've had a recruitment open day today at work, I was talking to a prospective new employee who was delighted that the reversing part of the test was gone as its the thing he's failed on twice previously, which sums it up rather well to me.

Previously, he was prevented from driving an artic as he plainly wasn't upto the reversing part, now he'll have an artic license yet still being not able to reverse, it's absolutely nuts.

Don't disagree, that's why I think the reversing test should be real life conditions on the road or in a busy yard, not a between a couple of cones in the test centre. Look

Hopefully your boss isn't in a position to have consider employing guys like this, but if he's as bad as you say, he wouldn't be able to pass an assessment anywhere to get a job.

Reading the government announcement, it does seem to say the reversing and coupling elements are being passed off to a third party. I'm wondering how this will work in practice, and if it means this will be done before or after the actual test, and if it will be something you can actually fail on.

 

[Supernova]

Just imagine in a few months when there's an artic behind you or maneuvering near your property there's going to be a good chance he's had next to **** all training. The more I think about it the more comical it is.

This law change allows someone to tow a trailer up to 3500kg, it doesn’t allow them to drive an artic (HGV)?

Edit: Now explained by later post by Kenai - apologies.

What will change later in 2021
If you passed your car driving test from 1 January 1997, you’ll be allowed to tow trailers up to 3,500kg MAM when the law changes.

On a side note - since they’re no longer mentioning the combined weight of vehicle + trailer in the new law (current law for post 1997 licenses is 4250kg or 3500kg) I’m assuming there is no limit for the combined weight now. So you could (under the new law) tow a 3500kg trailer with say a Discovery 5 which is rated to tow 3500kg but itself weighs 2200kg, meaning it’s 5700kg combined.

 

[Usel]

You can drive a tractor and trailer up to 31t from age 16 after passing a tractor test or 17+ after passing a driving test. To me the change from 1997 was unnecessarily restrictive.

They need to come down harder on people towing illegal weights with unsuitable vehicles.

 

[Kenai]

This law change allows someone to tow a trailer up to 3500kg, it doesn’t allow them to drive an artic (HGV)?

It's a separate but linked issue.

HGV driving tests will be overhauled, meaning drivers will only need to take 1 test to drive both a rigid and articulated lorry, rather than having to take 2 separate tests (spaced 3 weeks apart). This will make around 20,000 more HGV driving tests available every year and mean drivers can gain their licence and enter the industry more quickly.

Tests will also be made shorter by removing the ‘reversing exercise’ element – and for vehicles with trailers, the ‘uncoupling and recoupling’ exercise – and having it tested separately by a third party. This part of the test is carried out off the road on a manoeuvring area and takes a significant amount of time. Testing such manoeuvres separately will free up examiner time, meaning they can carry out another full test every day.

Car drivers will no longer need to take another test to tow a trailer or caravan, allowing roughly 30,000 more HGV driving tests to be conducted every year.

 

[sityeuropa]

I can understand it needs looking at. In the 90's compared to now, just how much harder and more costly taking a HGV test is, a shortage was bound to happen. If they wanted to keep both it was either increasing the wages or make it easier / cheaper. Preferably the former.

 

[Supernova]

It's a separate but linked issue.

Ahhh, thank you.

 

[Kaeo]

As I understand this isn't being removed entirely, it's just being tested separately by a third party, instead of being part of the driving test. I presume it will become part of the mod 4 instead? Something like that. I hope.

 

[ci_newman]

You can drive a tractor and trailer up to 31t from age 16 after passing a tractor test or 17+ after passing a driving test. To me the change from 1997 was unnecessarily restrictive.

They need to come down harder on people towing illegal weights with unsuitable vehicles.

I agree with you here, the main issue isn't people towing over a combined weight of 3500Kgs. The issues comes from people towing more than is rightly safe or legal, which this law doesn't prevent anyway. For most common vehicles on the road, you're still going to be under 3500Kgs if you're towing within the limits of the cars max load rating anyway. That doesn't even begin to cover weight distribution of the towed vehicle either, which can have a much bigger effect than the overall weight which isn't included in any test anyway.

 

[Rroff]

Been a bunch of new updates to the highway code today - including interestingly addressing tailgating which will give police more options to deal with it as careless or dangerous driving - though I doubt it will make any difference.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/updates

 

[deardevildude]

Boy im about to slap a towbar on my car and start trailering my project about as needed. This is great.

 

[ci_newman]

Boy im about to slap a towbar on my car and start trailering my project about as needed. This is great.

There was nothing stopping you from doing that before though, you could still tow with the old laws as long as max weight was below 3500Kgs.

 

[SKILL]

There was nothing stopping you from doing that before though, you could still tow with the old laws as long as max weight was below 3500Kgs.

Wasn't it based off Maximum Authorised Mass though, not the actual mass of the trailer/towing vehicle, which essentially made towing a car a no go?