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In principle, if a vehicle/vehicle combination is legal in the country in which it is registered, it should be accepted (as a "visitor") in any other EC state.
Many UK motorhomers tow cars on A frames outside the UK without challenge, but the legal status of doing this is not completely clear.
Our UK legal framework is generally permissive. That is to say, if something is not actually banned, it is deemed legal. The legality of towing a car on an A frame in UK has - so far as I am aware - not yet been tested in court so, as it remains undefined, the practise is broadly accepted. If you will, it is a "grey" area.
However, most of the rest of Europe adopts a restrictive approach to legalisation, under which, generally, if something has not specifically been legalised, it is deemed illegal.
The problem is that just as A frames have not been declared actually illegal in UK, they have not been declared actually legal in other EC states. So, for vehicles registered outside the UK, they would be deemed illegal.
Towing a car on an A frame outside the UK could thus present its owner with a difficulty. If challenged to show how he is entitled to do this as a visitor he can't, because he can't prove it is legal in UK, and so can't demonstrate his entitlement for the combination to be accepted elsewhere in the EC.
There are two recognised "grey" areas that bear upon the legality of A frame towing in UK. First up, when towed, the car, legally, becomes a trailer. However, because it is a car, it will have brakes. Because it has now become a braked trailer, irrespective of its weight, the brakes must work, to a minimum efficiency, in conjunction with the towing vehicle's brakes. Devices are available that claim to achieve this, but simple over-run braking, such as used on caravans, are suspect if used on cars with servo assisted braking systems because, after a few applications, the servo reservoir will be exhausted, so the braking efficiency will be sharply reduced.
The further grey area concerns reversing. It is a requirement that the brakes of the trailer must disengage when the combination is reversed. This is accommodated by the design of trailer brakes but, for obvious reasons, car brakes cannot have this feature.
Therefore, if you want complete peace of mind, demonstrable legality throughout all of Europe whether or not EC, and the ability to reverse the combination under reasonable control, the only solution is to carry the car on a purpose made trailer.
:whistle:
