Regulation 5 Circumstances in which a permit may be varied, suspended or withdrawn

(1)

The Secretary of State may vary, suspend or withdraw a permit with the permit holder’s consent.

(2)

The Secretary of State may vary, suspend or withdraw a permit without the permit holder’s consent in any of the following circumstances—

(a)

the permit holder breaches a permit condition^f1;

(b)

a vehicle to which the permit applies commits a traffic infraction that the Secretary of State considers is serious or repeated;

(c)

multiple vehicles to which the permit applies commit the same, or similar, traffic infractions;

(d)

the permit holder does not fulfil an undertaking given to the Secretary of State;

(e)

during the application process, the applicant made a material statement of fact that (whether to the applicant’s knowledge or not) was false;

(f)

during the application process, the applicant made a material statement of expectation, and that expectation has not been fulfilled;

(g)

since the permit was granted, there has been a material change of any circumstances that were relevant to the grant of the permit;

(h)

the Secretary of State reasonably believes, in relation to a vehicle to which the permit applies, that—

(i)

there are serious safety concerns about the vehicle,

(ii)

the vehicle has caused or will cause serious or repeated disruption to traffic, or

(iii)

the vehicle has caused or will cause an unacceptable delay to an emergency worker who is responding to emergency circumstances;

(i)

a vehicle to which the permit applies is in an unroadworthy condition within the meaning of section 75 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (vehicles not to be sold in unroadworthy condition or altered so as to be unroadworthy)^f2.

(3)

In this regulation—

(a)

an “application” means an application for the grant, variation, suspension or withdrawal of a permit;

(b)

a vehicle “commits a traffic infraction” if it does anything that would, were an individual in control of it—

(i)

amount to the commission of an offence by that individual, or

(ii)

cause a person to become liable to pay a penalty charge under an enactment relating to road traffic;

(c)

an “emergency worker” means a person who is—

(i)

acting in the capacity of a constable,

(ii)

acting in a capacity mentioned in section 1 (2) of the Emergency Workers (Obstruction) Act 2006 (obstructing or hindering certain emergency workers responding to emergency circumstances)^f3, or

(iii)

acting in a capacity mentioned in section 1 (3) of the Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act 2005 (assaulting or impeding certain providers of emergency services)^f4, other than that of a constable;

(d)

a person “responding to emergency circumstances” has the meaning given in section 1 of the Emergency Workers (Obstruction) Act 2006.

(4)

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b)(i), it is to be assumed that nothing can be proved about the mental state of the notional individual.

Annotations

Footnotes

f1: “Permit condition” is defined in section 90 (1) of the Automated Vehicles Act 2024 (c. 10).
f2: 1988 c. 52; section 75 was amended by the Road Traffic Act 1991 (c. 40), sections 16(2) and 83 and Schedule 8.
f3: 2006 c. 39; section 1(2) was amended by the Armed Forces Act 2016 (c. 21), section 16 (5).
f4: 2005 asp 2; section 1(3) was amended by the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 (asp 5), section 38 (2), the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 (asp 8), Schedule 7, paragraph 67, and S.S.I. 2008/37.