When we moved lock stock and barrel to Spain a few years ago we used our Toyota with a trailer, three journeys and the job was done. To keep the vehicle in Spain it had to be registered here. That was hard enough, but we did it and we now drive around in a right hand-drive car with Spanish plates.

Next learning curve was the I.T.V., or in England you would know it as the M.O.T. Every two years a vehicle over four years has to be tested. So, once she hit the four-year mark the car was duely taken to the testing station. Now here comes my rant…A towing hitch in Spain has to have a recognised part number to be legal. Not so in UK. Hence, a legally fitted Toyota part that was fitted by Toyota in UK and arrived with a brand new vehicle was not considered legal in Spain. To be able to drive the car, which by the way did pass it’s test, the towing hitch had to be removed and not used. Using it without the proper paperwork puts you in danger of a heavy fine and confiscation by the police.

Our local Toyota garage worked very hard to resolve the problem, we did too, and so did Toyota in UK, but I.T.V. refused to reason, even though the original towing hitch is much stronger than the one that I.T.V. require.

Today we went to the Toyota garage, having reluctantly decided we had to bow to the unreasoning I.T.V. and buy a new towing hitch, at the cost of several hundred Euros. The new staff on the parts desk were very helpful, like previous ones, and still think we can use the UK part. They can’t order a new one as the supplier is closed next week, and then it will take a week to arrive, and then they have to fit it, and the trailer has to have a new drawbar as the ball size is different. By which time our olives that need to be taken to press to extract the oil have no trailer to go in as the car has no hitch and on and on the saga goes. It reminds me of the rhyme “All for the want of a horseshoe nail.”

On our drive back from Plasencia we tried to come up with a plan B. Somehow we need to get this resolved or several hundred kilos of olives are going to waste, and that’s not acceptable!