The Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989

Exemptions—Vehicles towing or being towed

6.—(1) No motor vehicle first used before 1st April 1986 and no pedal cycle or trailer manufactured before 1st October 1985 is required by regulation 18 to be fitted with any rear position lamp, stop lamp, rear direction indicator, rear fog lamp or rear reflector whilst a trailer fitted with any such lamp or reflector is attached to its rear.

(2) No trailer manufactured before 1st October 1985 is required by regulation 18 to be fitted with any front position lamp whilst being drawn by a passenger vehicle.

(3) No trailer is required by regulation 18 to be fitted with any stop lamp whilst being drawn by a vehicle which is not required by regulation 18 to be fitted with any such lamp.

(4) Paragraph (3) shall apply respectively to rear fog lamps and direction indicators as it applies to stop lamps.

(5) No trailer manufactured before 1st October 1990 is required by regulation 18 to be fitted with any stop lamp or direction indicator whilst being drawn by a motor vehicle fitted with one or two stop lamps and two or more direction indicators if the dimensions of the trailer are such that when the longitudinal axes of the drawing vehicle and the trailer lie in the same vertical plane such stop lamps and at last one direction indicator on each side of the vehicle are visible to an observer in that vertical plane from a point 6 m behind the rear of the trailer whether it is loaded or not.

(6) No rear marking is required to be fitted to any vehicle by regulation 18 if another vehicle in a combination of which it forms part would obscure any such marking.

(7) Where a broken-down vehicle is being drawn by another vehicle–

(a)regulations 18 and 23 shall not apply to the broken-down vehicle between sunrise and sunset, and

(b)between sunset and sunrise those regulations shall apply to the broken-down vehicle only in respect of rear position lamps and reflectors.

(8) The references in paragraphs (3) and (4) to a vehicle which is required to be fitted with a lamp shall be construed as if paragraph (1) did not have effect.