# Is it legal ....



## ❁ BG2007 ❁ (Jun 26, 2007)

... that got you interested didn't it  

Is it legal to drive a car with the boot open if you are carrying a load that overhangs the boot space? 

I'm not sure that makes sense .... we want to take a single bed mattress to the tip which is three miles away. I suspect the mattress will not fully fit in the estate boot so we'd probably have to drive with the boot open and make sure the mattress is securely tied in but DH is convinced this is illegal and wants to pay to have the mattress removed. It's not though is it?  

B xx


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## Felicity Wishes (Feb 18, 2008)

As far as I am aware its not illegal as long as it is;

*Completely secure and no risk of the mattress falling out or the boot flying open 
*Not obscuring any view of the driver i.e. rear view mirror or back window
*Not overhanging the back of the vehicle so as to cause an accident for people behind not being able to judge the distance.

I am sure that you both have the sense to secure it well and it will be absolutaly fine.

FW xxx


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## ❁ BG2007 ❁ (Jun 26, 2007)

Yes that's what I thought, I had a look on google about the law etc but didn't really find much (I did find stuff about carrying explosives and weapons   but all I want is to take an old bed  ) thank you FW  

If any one else knows for sure though I'd love to hear, I can't believe it but we had such a row about it yesterday, it was ridiculous


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## Scooby Doo (May 24, 2006)

not sure if its legal or not with the boot open, but we have done similar things many times, ( DH is a fisherman and has driven his pickup round town many times with all sorts of things overhanging but has never been pulled by the police yet ( touch wood). But last time i disposed of a mattress, we both rolled it up ( or wrestled it  ) and made a mattress swill roll and tied it up, and fitted it into the car boot easily......

S
xx


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## MAL. (Mar 19, 2007)

We did the same, I sat on the end (I was pg at the time) and dh mil and fil tied it up and it fit into a mondeo, it was a double mattress. Good luck!


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## clairelh1 (Sep 8, 2004)

I'm sure as long as it's secure and doesn't obscure the view etc, then it's fine.  I saw one of those traffic cops programmes the other week and some bloke was carrying the equivalent of a timber yard on his roof, but they couldn't do anything about it because it was really secure (albeit with an amass of different fixings).  There was absolutely nothing they could pick him up on.

We once bought an item of furniture which stuck out of the boot, it was an impulse purchase so we had v. little to secure the boot, but we managed and drove it approx 5 miles home.

C
x


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