Over width and over here

A WELL-KNOWN industry figure is urging police forces to uphold the law after seeing a huge number of over-width continental caravans being towed by unsuitable vehicles.

Michael Hold, importer of Airstream caravans, wrote to the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire police Meredydd Hughes, asking him to make traffic police aware of the current legislation.       

Under UK law, the maximum caravan width is 2.3 metres, unless towed by a vehicle of over 3500 kg. Interestingly, the UK's heaviest passenger vehicle, the Range Rover, is only 2700kg - still not heavy enough to tow the 2.55 metre wide caravans being imported from the US and Germany.  

In his letter Mr Hold said: " Many caravan brands, including US origin vintage Airstreams and various German brands such as Hobby, Tabbert, Fendt and LMC, which need a 3500+ KG towing vehicle, are now being imported into the UK market.

"Each and every day my partners and I witness four or five such 2.55m wide caravans being towed on motorways by lightweight vehicles, in clear contravention of UK road and traffic law."

Mr Hold, who spent months streamlining the UK Airstreams to make them legal on UK roads, has grown increasingly annoyed with the import of such over-width vehicles, which, he says, creates unfair competition for the many manufacturers who do comply with the law.

"It does affect legitimate caravan businesses in the UK, it's unfair competition from ignorant trading." He said. "These mismatched outfits are an accident waiting to happen and our roads are just not geared up for it."

In response, Chief Constable Hughes agreed to pass on the letter to all police forces and two weeks later, a guide to towing law appeared on the website of the Department for Transport. In the FAQ-style guide, towing weights, towbars, trailers and caravan widths are all covered, and the 2.3 metre law is made clear.

Responding to the Chief Constable's reply, Mr Hold commented:  "It's very encouraging - I just hope that it does filter down through all the police forces.
"I've never known anyone be stopped - and I see four or five over-width caravans everyday breaking the law. Hopefully now that will change."

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