Towing American Caravans and Trailers In The UK

There’s more to towing an American caravan or trailer in the UK than just hitching up and leaving. You need to perform some modifications to be safe and legal both in the UK and Europe.

If you haven’t read yet, my article on Braking Systems For Imported Caravans is a great starting point.

Besides the braking system, you need to modify the lights. American tail lights are not legal in the UK or EU and the side lights have a different positioning to the one that comes from America (there is a maximum spacing in between sidelights you need to adhere to). Additionally, while the American front top markers are amber, they need to be onverted to white, on this side of the world.

Then we come to dimensions. This is a whole new world and too much for me to put it into my own words, so I’ll directly quote the Gov.uk website:

If the towing vehicle has a permissible gross weight in excess of 3.5 tonnes the maximum width and length of the drawbar trailer are 2.55 metres and 12 metres respectively. If however the gross weight of the towing vehicle is 3.5 tonnes or less, then the maximum permissible width and length for a drawbar trailer are 2.55 metres and 7 metres respectively. In both cases, the overall length of the towing vehicle and trailer must not exceed either 18 metre or 18.75 metre depending on the type of towing vehicle.

If the vehicle combination (not including buses) is of the articulated category, regardless of the gross weight of the towing vehicle, the maximum permissible width and length of the semi-trailer are 2.55 metres and 12.2 metres respectively. The overall length of the towing vehicle and trailer must not exceed 15.5m .

The C&U definition of the overall length of a trailer makes it clear that the coupling device and draw-bar are not included in the length dimension. In the case of a caravan, where a protective box is mounted on to the front (for example to hold gas storage tanks) and is supported on the draw-bar, this box is included in the overall length.

If you think this may be too big a job for you to undertake in your workshop, feel free to contact me via message or The STT Group for American caravans conversion for the UK.

C&U regulations demand compliance with the technical requirements of Directive 71/320/EEC including amendments up to and including Directive 98/12/EC. C&U Regulation 15 also recognises the technical requirements of United Nations ECERegulation 13 up to and including the 09 series of amendments.