‘Maintenance crisis’ brewing as UK’s towed vehicle fleet ages – UK Towing Safety Alliance

A “maintenance crisis” is brewing in the world of towed vehicles as an ageing fleet and busier roads have seen the breakdown rates of both commercial and domestic trailers climb in recent years, even as overall safety improves.

This is according to new research from the UK Towing Safety Alliance (UKTSA) – a national road safety coalition convened by independent policy organisation the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (Pacts) – which based its findings off of an analysis of four years of incident data from the National Highways’ Strategic Road Network.

The warning comes despite overall positive news for road users, with the number of traffic collisions involving towed vehicles – including any unpowered units such as caravans, horseboxes, utility trailers and agricultural transporters – having fallen by 17% over the period, which covers 2022 to 2025 in full.

While the decrease in collisions is a welcome development for insurers and road users alike, the news is caveated by growing concerns around the maintenance levels – and thus the mechanical safety – of towed vehicles.

Overall, the research found that towing-related incidents have risen by 23% since 2022, driven largely by a rapid growth in breakdown rates within the category. Indeed, breakdowns now represent 77% of all towing-related incidents seen on UK roads.

“It’s encouraging to see fewer collisions involving towing vehicles, which suggests that drivers are becoming more aware of safe towing practices,” said a UKTSA spokesperson.

“However, that progress is being undermined by a growing number of preventable mechanical failures. The challenge is no longer simply about how people tow – it’s increasingly about what they’re towing and the condition it’s in. As both tow vehicles and trailers get older, regular maintenance has never been more important.”

The Alliance’s research also highlighted a disparity between incident rates between vehicles towed for commercial reasons and those towed for leisure reasons.

Incidents involving horseboxes, for example, have fallen year-on-year, as have caravan incident rates, though not across every UK region.

In contrast, incident rates among utility trailers – the open-topped, flatbed trailers that are commonplace on UK roads – have risen in recent times, now accounting for nearly half of towing callouts, or roughly 3,000 incidents in 2025.

Agricultural towing risks

Moreover, research from NFU Mutual highlighted that the summer months mark a notable peak for agricultural trailer risk, with increased volumes of farming and livestock trailers on the roads contributing to a 56% higher collision rate for agricultural vehicles in the peak farming season.

Hannah Binns, rural affairs specialist at NFU Mutual, told Insurance Times that “on average, there were 391 of these collisions per month during the silage cutting, hay making and harvesting season, compared to 251 per month between October and April”.

“We believe the increase in agricultural traffic, coupled with more than a third of UK drivers feeling uncomfortable navigating agricultural vehicles – according to an NFU Mutual survey – creates conditions that can have disruptive and sometimes disastrous consequences,” she added.

For both utility trailers and agricultural trailers, the UKTSA indicated that the ageing nature of vehicles was a major contributor to what it termed the growing “maintenance crisis”.

The UKTSA added that the trend of retaining older vehicles – driven in part by economic pressures that also contribute to lower rates of professional maintenance – leads to “issues such as deteriorating tyres, worn suspension components, ageing braking systems, damaged couplings and deteriorating electrical systems can quickly develop into roadside breakdowns”.

Binns concluded: “Each year, we urge farmers to use the quieter winter months to check and carry out maintenance on their machinery to ensure that it is in good condition when farm work picks up in spring and this is all the more important with machinery that has been in commission a while.

“It’s also important that farmers carry out checks before each use of a vehicle or trailer. For trailers, the Tilly Pass checklist can be an excellent way of checking your trailer is safe.”