Explanatory note

These Regulations further amend the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations 1999 (“the principal Regulations”). The amendments made are as follows.

Regulation 2 amends regulation 9 of the principal Regulations by providing that the minimum age for driving an ambulance is reduced to 18 in the case of a vehicle owned or operated by a Primary Care Trust.

Regulation 3 amends regulation 42 of the principal Regulations by removing certain exemptions from the requirement to pass a theory test for licences authorising the driving of vehicles in category A or B.

Regulation 4 corrects an error in regulation 51 of the principal Regulations by amending the definition of “exempted goods vehicle” to include goods vehicles which are used only for short distances on “public roads” (as defined in regulation 51) rather than on roads in general.

Regulations 5, 6, 8 and 9 amend the principal Regulations to take account of the changes in the mandatory size and style (particularly the narrower size of the font) specified by the Road Vehicle (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001 (S.I. 2001/561) for the characters in registration marks on plates issued from 1st September 2001. The visual acuity requirements of the principal Regulations may be satisfied by testing persons on marks comprising either the new or the earlier type of character. The regulations provide that driving test candidates, applicants for licences, existing licence holders and participants in compulsory basic training courses for motor cyclists must, if tested on marks comprising the new type, be able to read a registration mark at a distance of 20 metres (or 12 metres in the case of category K, mowing machines). In particular, inability to read a plate from that distance constitutes a prescribed disability in relation to all licences for the purposes of section 92(2) of the Road Traffic Act 1988.

Regulation 5 also amends the conditions that drivers with controlled epilepsy must satisfy to obtain and hold Group 1 licences.

Regulation 7 amends regulation 80 of the principal Regulations to provide that holders of British external licences issued in the Isle of Man, Guernsey or Jersey authorising the driving of large or medium-sized goods vehicles or passenger-carrying vehicles may drive such vehicles in Great Britain during the first year of their becoming resident there.