For years, towing anything beyond a small trailer with a car meant booking a separate practical test – category B+E – on top of your ordinary car licence. That’s no longer true for most drivers, and the change catches out a lot of people who either assume they still need to book a towing test, or don’t realise there’s still a real weight limit attached to what their licence actually covers.
What changed, and who it actually applies to
GOV.UK’s current guidance sets out a straightforward split based on when you passed your car test. If you passed after 1 January 1997, your ordinary car licence now covers category BE, allowing you to tow a trailer weighing up to 3,500kg MAM (maximum authorised mass) – without sitting any separate towing test. If your car licence pre-dates 1 January 1997, you already have wider entitlement under the older rules, covering a vehicle and trailer combination up to 8,250kg MAM, plus certain minibus-and-trailer combinations.
You don’t have to apply for it separately
One detail that trips people up: category BE isn’t something you need to actively request. GOV.UK is explicit that “if you do not have ‘category BE’ on your physical driving licence, DVLA will add this the next time you renew your licence” – it’s added automatically as part of the ordinary photocard renewal cycle, not through a separate application or test booking. If your current photocard predates the change and doesn’t show category BE yet, that isn’t a sign you’re not entitled to it; it simply means your licence hasn’t been through a renewal cycle since the rule changed.
Where a separate test is still genuinely required
The 3,500kg BE limit is real, not just a formality, and towing beyond it still requires a genuinely separate licensing route. GOV.UK’s guidance is clear that combinations heavier than a standard car and trailer can carry – requiring category C1+E – mean applying for a provisional lorry licence and passing both a theory and practical test for that category, and potentially needing Driver CPC qualifications on top, depending on how the vehicle is used. In other words, the 2021-era change removed the test requirement for ordinary car-and-trailer towing within the new BE limit, but it did not remove testing altogether from towing in general – it just moved the line.
Why this matters for instructors and learners alike
For most new drivers, this means towing a typical caravan, box trailer or small car transporter is legally covered by the ordinary car test and licence, with no extra step required once BE shows on the licence. It’s still worth being accurate with a learner about what the licence does and doesn’t cover, though – a driver planning to tow something at or near the 3,500kg limit, or considering a horsebox, larger caravan or plant trailer, needs to check the actual combined weight against their entitlement rather than assuming “I can tow now” covers every situation.
Training still exists – it’s just optional now
GOV.UK’s guidance also references towing training through accredited providers as something drivers can still choose to do, even though it’s no longer a legal requirement to tow within the BE limit. Given that towing genuinely changes a vehicle’s handling, braking distance and reversing behaviour, recommending optional training to a newly qualified driver planning to tow regularly is reasonable advice, even though it isn’t the legal gate it used to be.
Why this is worth explaining even to learners who’ll never tow anything
It might seem like an unnecessary detail for a learner who has no plans to ever tow a trailer, but it’s a genuinely common source of confusion among newly qualified drivers who hear older, inaccurate information from family members who remember the pre-2021 system, or who assume – wrongly – that towing still requires a wholly separate test booked and paid for independently. A brief, accurate explanation during lessons, even for a learner with no immediate towing plans, avoids that confusion resurfacing years later when the question actually becomes relevant.
What learners should actually check on their own licence
Because category BE is added automatically only at the next renewal rather than retroactively to an existing photocard, a newly qualified driver checking their own licence shouldn’t be alarmed if BE doesn’t appear immediately after passing their test – it reflects the renewal cycle, not an error or a missing entitlement. The category will appear the next time the photocard itself is renewed, and in the meantime, the underlying legal entitlement to tow up to 3,500kg already exists regardless of what the physical card currently displays.
The bottom line
Most drivers who passed their test after 1 January 1997 already have towing entitlement up to 3,500kg built into their ordinary car licence, added automatically at their next renewal rather than through a separate test. The real distinction to explain to learners isn’t “do I need a towing test” anymore – it’s whether what they actually want to tow fits inside that 3,500kg limit at all.
Sources
- GOV.UK, “Towing with a car: What you can tow” – gov.uk/towing-with-car