Government Announces Relaxation to Car Trailer Rules

The Government has laid new legislation before Parliament to relax rules relating to the towing of trailers by car drivers who hold a standard licence. The move forms part of a wider suite of measures to streamline the HGV vocational testing regime and comes as the Government attempts to boost lorry driver testing capacity.

Provided that the new laws make it onto the statute books, drivers that passed their driving test from 1 January 1997 will be permitted to tow trailers of up to 3,500kg. Drivers who passed their driving test before 1997 are already permitted to drive a car towing a trailer unless their licence has been restricted, and will retain these rights under the new policy.

Car and trailer driving tests are also to be stopped in line with the changes, paving the way for instructors to instead conduct lorry driver tests - of which the Government has pledged an additional 50,000 per year.

While the change to the rules has now been made official Government policy, it has not yet been passed through Parliament. This means that drivers must abide by the existing rules until such time as the new regime comes into force.

To find out more, read the announcement from the DVLA here.