UK Towing Safety Alliance

The Camping and Caravanning Club along with TyreSafe, the National Caravan Council, National Highways and other like-minded organisations have formed the UK Towing Safety Alliance to keep towing safety at the forefront of drivers’ minds.

The Camping and Caravanning Club has a long history of playing an active role in supporting safer towing and improving road safety for the benefit of its members and the wider camping community. The Alliance was formed when the Trailer and Towing Safety All Party Parliamentary Group was disbanded at the end of the last parliament.   

Club members have a good reputation for looking after their caravans and trailers, but that doesn’t mean we should be complacent as seen in data shared by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA).

Members of the Technical Team are the Clubs representatives at national road safety meetings, so we attend meetings of the Safety Alliance as well as dealing with member enquires related to their camping kit. At techtalk@myccc.co.uk we often get questions on safety topics such as tyres, servicing and towing mirrors. We’ve created an extensive collection of Expert Guides to help answer some of these questions. See our at a Glance flyer for more detail and advice:

 

Interactive Technical Flyer 

We also have a selection of How To videos linked within the above guides, plus there are many more here such as reversing a caravan.

You can also download an a safety check card for caravans, braked trailers and unbraked leisure trailers or motorhomes. 

If you are looking to buy a caravan, the Club offers its members a free car and caravan matching services provided by Towsafe, to ensure the combination is safe and legal on the road. More details are here.

Latest campaign from the UK Towing Safety Alliance – TLC

The inaugural campaign being launched by the UK Towing Safety Alliance brings together three key checks everyone towing should be aware of, namely Tyres, Load and Connection – it’s called TLC which you will learn about on our Club caravan courses.

Tyres

Ensure your tyres are properly inflated, have sufficient tread and are free from damage. It’s also important to check the age of your tyres.

Tyres should be no older than seven years. Ideally change them at five years from the date of manufacture, a date that will be stamped on side wall of the tyre. See our Expert Guides to Motorhome, Caravan and Tow Car Tyres.  

Load

Check your kit, doors and lockers are secure, evenly distributed throughout the caravan or trailer, that you have a suitable noseweight for the towing vehicle and that everything is within the legal and vehicle weight limits. 

Secure items so they won’t move around, even things in the cupboards and lockers. See our Expert Guides to Towing Safely and our advice on loading and matching car and caravan here Expert Guides to Matching car and caravan.

Connection

See our advice here on safe towing including tow mirrors and how to connect your breakaway cable. Once you have hitched up, but before stowing your jockey wheel, take the time to wind it down to apply some upward force on the hitch. The rear of the car body should begin to lift on the suspension a few inches. This confirms the trailer is properly connected. Use our safety check cards as an aid.

See our How To videos below on hitching, breakaway cables, towing mirrors and noseweight. 

Additional Advice

The Club's Manoeuvring Courses are a packed day of theory and practical training with qualified driving instructors in Coventry.  

More information about the UK Towing Safety Alliance and the case for action can be found at www.towing-safety.uk.