Lumber protruding from car boot?

[transatlantic]

What are the car/road rules for driving with your boot open and something protuding out? (in this case wood planks)

I can't seem to find anything online about this and was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of any documented rules from a reliable source?

Ideally, I'd be using roof racks or something similar, but that won't work for me. So I'm left with getting as much as I can fit inside the car and potentially having some poke out the boot with it tied down.

 

[Water-Mark]

As far as I can tell the problems arise when you obscure lights or number plate.
If you can secure the load properly and you mark the rear of the planks you should be fine.
Bear in mind I'm not a police officer.

 

[custard]

Whenever I've tried this the exhaust fumes seem to get pulled into the car, to the extent that you seriously risk gassing yourself!

 

[n0legs]

Vehicle construction and use might come into play.
Some goods and commercial vehicles can carry forward and rearward protruding loads but I wouldn't be sure about a car.

 

[Rhossydd]

Be really, really careful if you try this.
Make sure that any material protruding from the back can't possibly contact the back of an occupied seat. The consequences of even a small rear end accident* pushing planks into an occupied seat are horrible to imagine. As all the normal safety/crumble zones will be totally bypassed.

* More likely than usual as drivers may not see anything low sticking out. Similarly cars may pull out behind you not knowing there's an obstruction.

Just get it delivered. No risk to self or licence.

 

[MIGNAL]

"You must secure your load and it must not stick out dangerously", according to the highway code. I suspect that objects protruding from the rear of a boot would be considered dangerous, especially in a court of law.
Of course that sort of thing is done often, frequently seen at the car parks of DIY chains. Doesn't make it a sensible option though.

 

[ardenwoodcraft]

As far as I'm aware, if your load protrudes from the rear of your vehicle by 1 metre or more it must be marked with a warning flag or triangular warning plate. Common sense would tell you that any load sticking out of the boot of your vehicle should be visibly marked and should not obscure your rear lights. If your rear lights will be obscured then a lighting board will be required like for bike racks etc.

In any event I would try to keep your journey as short as possible using the least busy route. Would it be economical to hire a van for a day?

 

[blackrodd]

The load must be secure and not likely to move around in transit, or Mr policeman can charge you with an insecure load,
How do I know that? :shock: here's a link for projections permitted,-
A member used his wife's bra for a load marker when using his trailer a while ago, he may have finished with it!
And the mention of exhaust gasses coming through you're hatchback could make you quite ill.
I have a Boxer van and roof rack, luckily.
Regards Rodders

http://www.sussex.police.uk/help-centre ... my-vehicle

 

[transatlantic]

Thank you for the replies.

I'm hoping I won't have to actually do this (will always try to get it delievered), but it's good to know the rules.

 

[dickm]

Not entirely relevant, but 20 or so years ago, I bought a fruit cage from a guy near Banbury. The bits of the cage was hung on and around my old Volvo estate (to my mind, securely) for the trip back to MK, but had to stop in briefly Banbury. Arrived back at car, to find Mr Plod parked alongside. "Oh sh**", thinks I. But it turned out that they were there because the lady in the next car along had managed to lock her baby and car keys in her vehicle, and called them to help.
I quietly got in the Volvo and drove away.................

 

[Trigs]

drive home as fast a possible i what i usually do

 

[Graham Orm]

Regardless of the legalities, what about the insurance? I'm pretty sure you wouldn't get paid out should it cause an accident.

 

[Bedrock]

I think if you drop your front windows slightly, you won't suck the fumes in.

 

[paulm]

What's lumber ? :wink: :lol:

As mentioned, make sure you have the front windows open as the exhaust fumes, carbon monoxide, will get sucked into the car otherwise and could get pretty serious !

Cheers, Paul

 

[dickm]

Possibly better to turn the heater fan to full speed. Opening front windows could just reduce air pressure inside and make things worse, whereas the heater fan should push clean air from the front through the car. The other trick in the days when there were front quarterlights was to swing them right out to act as air intakes.
But in theory, the cat should remove any MONoxide from the exhaust.

 

[mindthatwhatouch]

What a coincidence,
Held up briefly in traffic this morning cos some numpty in a pick up had deposited a chipboard flooring sheet on the road, whilst going round a roundabout!
Obviously it had slid out the tailgate upper door, so he picked it up, slid it back in on top of the other half a dozen sheets and drove away with the tailgate open and the sheets still not secure.

I think as long as its secure, bear in mind its all going to want to move forwards if you stop suddenly, slide side to side when you corner as well as the risk of losing it out the back, not obscuring vision or lights and not a ridiculous amount sticking out the back then plod are usually busy with other things.

 

[hammer n nails]

A man with a van would do this if you load and unload they can be very cheap if the job does not take long a chap moved some wood for me for £20 . 30 waney edge planks 3 metres long

 

[Claymore]

..........

 

[Lons]

What Graham said about the insurance is absolutely spot on. Have an accident whether your fault or not and you'll have major difficulty persuading your insurance company to pay up. They have every right, modern cars are not designed to have loads sticking out the back with the hatch open, potentially dangerous to the occupants and other road users / pedestrians, that's why manufacturers are forced to fit "pedestrian friendly" bumpers. Worse still they could void your insurance and if someone is seriously injured you could be prosecuted for driving an unsafe vehicle.
Fraudsters are already deliberately running into the back of cars, they're going to have a field day if you're unlucky enough that they spot your load hanging out the back - whiplash here we come. :roll:

Just because many people do it and get away with it because the police are too busy fine gathering from other motorists doesn't mean it's ok to do it just to save a few quid

I have done it myself in the distant past btw but wouldn't dream of it now.

Bob

 

[Chrispy]

Quite a few years ago now whilst driving along the A34 around Oxford I remember passing a brand new flush door still in its plastic wrapping at the edge of the carriage way, well 1/2 a mile further on was another and then another, then I caught up with an estate car with the back open two or three doors proped up at an angle and still driving along, the driver presumably unaware his load was sliding out one by one.