If you passed your test AFTER that date you can still tow above the weight BUT you must have someone 'advising' you in the passenger seat with the correct entitlement AND display L plates as well.

Ps that r5 looks to be a 1.4 unit and that's the clutch/Cooling system/pass side front wheel smoking like a good en  FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
Mantec Sump Guard, Rigid Load liner, MY10 BT upgrade.

IMHO, it would be unlikely that anyone would get pulled over whatever van they were towing with a FF. The police tend to be on the lookout for people who are obviously negligent in their loading and matching. I have seen outfits which are so on the limit its daft, but legal.

Eg a Elddis Crusader superstorm on the back of a mondeo estate, possibly legal if loaded correctly but certainly not advisable.

I also see combos which are so badly loaded its scary, tow bar almost on the ground. cant be fun to drive. Also not evident with a FF as the max noseweight of 150kg would be difficult to reach with a van, also the air susupension assures a level load.

For a FF to be at 85% the caravan would have to be over 2.3t. There arent many vans which have that high a MTPLM on the market in the UK, with the possible exception of units from Airstream and the newer units with slide out sides.

One of the best towcars i have used, comfortable on the motorway and big A roads but my old 5series was better on twisty stuff with the van on.  There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

My swift Conqueror is exactly the same as that and my TD6 is fine with it

Holy thread resurection!

Just towed my almost fully loaded 3500kg trailer from Scotland to the Alps. The TD6 didn't race up hills, some of them took a while with that load, but it was never a problem. 3500kg is an awful lot to tow and you shouldn't race around with that - slow, planned, methodical, and I stuck to the 80kph speed limit. Can't see why the caravan club would think a 1600kg caravan would be too much.

Incidentally, I was stopped by the (German) police. They wanted to check it was properly loaded and strapped down but had no problem with the weight.

I took my licenese way before 1996, but think that test is a good idea. Towing, particulary a heavy weight, should come with some training and a test.