News from The NCC

DIRECTIVE (EU) 2025/2205 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 22 October 2025

The above Directive (the 4th Directive) was passed in the European Parliament and Council on 22 October 2025 and published in the official Journal of the European Union on 5 November 2025.

The Directive is now in force in Europe and the main changes for touring caravan and motor caravan owners are:

Category B licence – towing. The maximum combination weight for a towing vehicle and trailer will increase to 4,250kg from 3,500kg.

Where the combination weight exceeds 3,500kg then the driver must have undergone a training course or passed a skills test. Each European country will decide whether they require drivers to have undertaken specific training or a skills test or even both.

Category B licence – motor caravan. The maximum vehicle weight that can be driven under this licence will increase to 4,250kg from 3,500kg.  A driver of a motor caravan with this licence category can also tow a combination mass up to 5,000kg provided the driver has undergone a training course or passed a skills test. Once again it will be for the European country to decide whether they will require drivers to undergo training or testing or both.

This is the position in Europe. Since Brexit the UK is not obliged to adopt European Directives.

The Department for Transport (DfT) is currently examining the text of the Directive to consider what implications it has for UK motorists when travelling in Europe and whether it should be adopted for motorists driving in the UK.  

The DfT announced in August that a new Road Safety Strategy will be published later this autumn – the first in more than a decade – and the Directive is likely to be reviewed in light of this.