The National Caravan Council (NCC) has stated its belief that the UK should not be too quick to agree to change the maximum width of caravans.
Government proposals could see the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 changed to allow normal cars to tow mobile homes with a width of up to 2.55m on Britain’s roads.
The current rules state that drivers must have a vehicle weighing at least 3,500kg in order to tow any caravan or trailer wider than 2.3m.
However, the NCC suggested that changing the rules this spring could put British companies at a disadvantage as they have so little time to begin manufacture of wider models.
European firms are already making the wider mobile homes as legislation on the continent has been different from the UK for some time.
“Whilst we acknowledge that the UK is currently operating contrary to European law in this area, the very short timescale for implementation won’t allow matters to be properly thought through,” said NCC director-general John Lally.
UK caravan manufacturers include Bailey, Swift and Elddis.
