" Picture the scene; you've just bought your beautiful new Boat for the summer, its being delivered as we speak. You've cleared out the garage, bought a new chamois for the obligatory polish as it's dropped off. Think you've made all your preparations?? Well I'll bet you've probably overlooked one very important pre-summer, pre-sail check. Insurance: Check! Licence: Check! Place to sail: Check! Driving Licence????????? Sure you've got everything you need to head out on the water, but the real question is….

Can you tow that trailer?

If your one of the thousands who have passed their test after January 1 st 1997 and you'd like to tow a large trailer or even a caravan, you will need to do a little maths to ensure that you're both legal and safe this summer.

It's very simple and can be done as follows add the total gross weight of your vehicle to the total gross weight of your trailer (with the shiny new boat on it), if your answer is greater than 3,500kgs, then you need to have a B+e.

Don't panic too soon though, the majority of small Dinghy's and their trailers can usually be towed without those two little letters on your licence! However anything larger will usually involve a larger vehicle and in this instance you will need to check your sums. If you consider that a 4x4 can weigh almost 3,500kgs, you could find that some of you have been towing illegally.

If you are one of the few caught driving without the appropriate letters to your name, you could face up to a £1000 fine and between 3-6 points on your licence!!

Not only do your run the risk of a fine and points, but you could find that your insurance is not valid as you're not licensed to drive with a trailer, to add insult to injury, you may find that your precious new toy, your pride and joy, the best thing since sliced bread, is also not insured !!!!!

Until now, we have been very lucky, police appear to have been overlooking this fact for a while, however, how long can this continue?

The answer is no one knows. It could be that having read this article a few may think,' I'm ok, I wont be stopped' and oops, a blue flashing light appears and you are.

If you're a business owner, can you really afford one of your employees to get caught without the appropriate licence? And if one is stopped, you can guarantee that more than one will also be stopped, which in turn could cost you greatly.

So what do you do, well that's where we can help. The Best Of British Driving School are a specialist training school with an experienced and qualified instructor who can help anyone and any business overcome this small (yet potentially costly) barrier.

At the B.o.B driving school, we can help with any enquiries about the B+e driving test and provide free advice for those of you who may be worried. Not only do we specialise in training for the B+e test, we can arrange residential training as well, so you don't even need to take days off work, we can come to you