Hi Steve here.
We have just brought our first little puck. I know the law states that you must use towing mirrors when towing a caravan as most caravans are wider then cars We have a Ford focus which is 1.8mtrs wide but the puck is only 1.65. Does that mean we can tow without extended mirrors.

I would add to the above by mentioning that insurance companies will do anything to wriggle out of paying claims.

The law also states a maximum allowed projection of the mirrors.

"that mirror shall not project more than 20cm beyond the overall width of the vehicle or, if the vehicle is drawing a trailer which is wider than the drawing vehicle, more than 20cm beyond the overall width of the trailer"

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...-motor-vehicles

Steve

My view is what is the point of not fitting the mirrors, apart from saving a few bob? The potential downsides of not having them are much greater than spending a bit on them and the upside that provides, whether they're legally required or not.

The law is the law.

My two penne'th is that you may think you have reasonable vision without additional mirrors but with them, your vision is much improved. My experience is that you have considerably more vision of the road immediately behind the Eriba of, perhaps, a car that might otherwise not be visible...

Exactly Steve and that’s why I dont need towing mirrors when my original mirrors are set on wide mode. But lots of vehicles are different and it depends what you tow with.

Thanks for the responses. I was going to use mirrors but did wonder if other people did or didn't.

Gov.uk states:

"Towing mirrors. You must have an adequate view of the road behind you.

Fit suitable towing mirrors if your trailer or caravan is wider than the rear of your car.

You can be fined up to £1,000 and get 3 penalty points for towing without proper towing mirrors."

NOTE the words "wider than the rear of your car"...

Milenco (mirror manufacturers) state this on their website:

"The Law in the United Kingdom specifies you must be able to see clearly down both sides of the caravan, and see 4 meters either side of the caravan at a distance of 20 meters behind the rear of the caravan.

This in reality means, if your caravan/trailer is wider than the rear of your tow vehicle, you must fit towing mirrors to comply with the law. You can be fined up to £1000 and get 3 points on your licence for towing blind. (At exhibitions, we have met many caravanners that had received 3 points and £60 fixed penalty notices.)

On tow vehicles conforming to directive 2003/97 EC or sold after January 2007, the towing mirrors may project 25cms further than the widest part of the caravan. On tow vehicles pre dating this directive, the mirrors may project 20 cms further than the widest part of the caravan.

Since 12th of December 2005 it is a legal requirement that you have type approved (e-marked) mirrors on both sides of the tow vehicle."

My Volvo V70 is 2.1m wide and my Triton is 2m wide, so, technically, I don't need to use additional mirrors (as I can see the yellow zone marked in the previous post's image) and i don't. If there were much smaller mirrors that could sit right on the end of my car's mirrors, then I might well use them. The Milenco Aeros I own won't attach to my mirrors anyway - and certainly won't work with auto fold. And putting them on, taking them off and setting them up is a right faff...

However, I also don't like those occasional cars that come right up behind you, then pop out at the last moment to overtake.

So, instead of mirrors, I have been trialling a system using an old iPod Touch as a camera (attached in a phone holder to the inside of the rear window of the Eriba), then transmitting its video to an iPad Mini on my dashboard, using wifi and a film app called Filmic Pro (which allows remote control of the rear mounted camera and, crucially, horizontal flip, so that the image displayed on the dashboard is reversed, just like in wing mirrors). I have had to add a cheap USB powered wifi router in the boot of my car - for range reasons - and to avoid paying for mobile data. I now have it working nicely, although there is a slight image time lag. Apparently I can only get rid of this by using a hard-wired solution between car and caravan.

Further updates if I get this to work perfectly, as it's much better than add-on mirrors (and cheaper, so far, as I already owned iPod Touch and iPad Mini). Even with a slight data lag you can still see that idiot motorist who thinks he can mate with the back of your caravan...

As to projection beyond the width of the caravan. On my car the mirrors already stick out over 10cm beyond the caravan sides. The max projection allowed is 25cm (as the car is newer than 2007), so I only have an additional 15cm width allowed. No way do my current Milenco Aero towing mirrors fit into that dimension. The head is at least 20cm long and it sits off the car's mirror by at least 5cm, meaning, if I use them, I am breaking the legal maximum mirror width regulations...

I use this type of additional mirror. (https://www.amazon.it/WildAuto-Specchiet...e/dp/B071L1FJ1X)
It allows me to see well behind and covers the blind spot. For added security, I added a rear view camera that has the monitor in the mirror inside the car.