Speed limits when towing

A car, car derived van or motor caravan towing one trailer is limited to 50 mph on a single carriageway and 60 mph on a dual carriageway or motorway. Highway Code rule 124 publishes that row. Built-up roads stay at 30 mph in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and 20 mph on restricted roads in Wales, unless signs show another limit. A signed lower limit always wins.

The 70 mph car motorway habit does not survive the hitch. Neither does the 70 mph dual-carriageway car figure. Those become 60 mph. The 60 mph single-carriageway car figure becomes 50 mph. The towing pages under /towing cover licence, weight and mirrors. This page is only the speed row. GOV.UK speeding penalties still start at a £100 fine and 3 points if you exceed the towing cap, with a court maximum of £1,000, or £2,500 on a motorway. A Notice of Intended Prosecution should arrive within 14 days of a camera catch, and the section 172 notice must be returned within 28 days. New drivers lose the licence at 6 points in 2 years. The lower towing cap means a speed that would have been legal solo can be an excess once a trailer is attached, which is the whole point of checking this row before a holiday run.

Not on a motorway with three or more lanes, apart from limited circumstances directed by signs or lane arrangements. Highway Code rule 98 points at rule 265. The England and Wales law is the Motorways Traffic Regulations 1982, regulation 12. The 60 mph cap and the lane rule are separate. You can be in the wrong lane at 55 mph.

Two-lane motorways do not have a third lane to forbid. Follow signs in a closure. A small trailer is not an exemption. The rule is towing a trailer.

Speeding while towing uses the ordinary GOV.UK tariff: £100 and 3 points as a minimum, up to £1,000 in court, or £2,500 on a motorway. Because the cap is 60 mph on a motorway, a speed that would have been legal solo can be an excess with a trailer. New drivers can lose the licence at 6 points in 2 years.

The lane offence is using a motorway lane the regulations forbid. This page does not invent a separate pounds figure for that, because GOV.UK speeding penalties is the published tariff cited here for speed. Do not combine the two into one made-up fine.

A qualifying car derived van uses this car-towing row. Other vans use the goods towing rows, including 60 mph on a motorway and, over 7.5 tonnes aggregate, lower single and dual figures in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Those sit on the van and HGV pages. Do not copy 50 and 60 onto a 7.5 tonne lorry without reading that page.

A motorhome towing uses the towing cap in the calculator. The 3.05 tonne unladen boundary is for the motorhome on its own.

The 50 and 60 mph towing caps are the national GB figures. Wales changes the town default to 20 mph. Scotland uses 30 mph in ordinary built-up streets. Northern Ireland publishes its own table on nidirect. Heavy goods over 7.5 tonnes pick up 40 and 50 mph in Scotland and NI. A car and caravan does not.

That a national speed limit sign restores 70 mph. It does not, while towing. That a small trailer is exempt. It is not. That you may use the outside lane to overtake a lorry at 60 mph on a three-lane motorway. You may not, except where signs force it. DVSA also says if the trailer snakes, ease off. A legal 60 mph is still too fast if the van is swaying.

Highway Code rule 124 is the 50 and 60 mph row for a car, car derived van or motor caravan towing one trailer. Rule 98 points at rule 265 for the right-hand lane, and cites the Motorways Traffic (England and Wales) Regulations 1982, regulation 12. GOV.UK speeding penalties names the £100 and 3 point minimum and the court maxima of £1,000 and £2,500 on a motorway. Because the motorway cap is 60 mph, a speed that would have been legal solo can be an excess with a trailer. Wales changes the restricted-road default to 20 mph, so a caravan in a Welsh town is usually a 20 mph combination. The towing hub under /towing covers licence, weight and mirrors. This page is the speed row.