Undertaking on Motorway... 173

Er.. since S-reg and type approval you cannot tow with a vehicle that was not designed for towing. That a vehicle has both MTW and towing limit means that it was designed, tested, and approved for towing up to those limits.

Since the introduction of driving licenses early last century drivers have been required to prove their competency. Since 1997, the standard car license only permits towing of comparatively light trailers and drivers are required to take an additional test to tow anything else.

WRT vehicle testing, the MOT means almost nothing and even says so on the certificate! A much larger percentage of caravanners than drivers who are not towing are pulled over for spot checks. So while trailers are not subject to formal annual inspection as a legal requirement, they are more likely to be checked at random and so caravanners are less likely to get away with an unsafe combination than are drivers who are not towing. In addition, many manufacturers now offer a six year warranty *subject to annual service*, which means that caravans up to six years old get inspected each year much more rigorously than do cars.

Now, on to caravans inclined at 30¡ due to axle failure. Conor

I've yet to see one at the side of the road from losing a wheel and so buttume that Conor's claim has the same substance as his claims that I've addressed directly here. Even if Conor had seen a plethora of caravans that had lost wheels, I suspect that 30¡ is a bit of an exaggeration. If you remove one wheel buttembly the caravan will either sit on its side, its roof, or an angle whose sine is the ratio of the radius of one wheel to its width (about 12" 7' 3" or about 0.138), i.e. an angle of about 8¡. I think we can buttume that all Conor's claims will be similarly exaggerated?

-- Geoff