Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations consolidate with amendments the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations 1996 and regulations amending those Regulations (all of which are now revoked). The amendments made are as follows:—

(a)

No licence may be issued for sub-category B1 (invalid carriages) to a person who did not hold one on 12th November 1999—although existing licences remain valid—and driving tests for that sub-category are discontinued with effect from the same date(regulation 5(3) and Schedules 2 and 5).

(b)

Members of the armed forces are authorised to drive dual purpose vehicles according to the class of licence held and the maximum authorised mass of the vehicle (regulation 8).

(c)

A person who has held a licence for category C, D, C+E or D+E for not less than three years in all is qualified to supervise a provisional licence holder in the same category notwithstanding that he has not held a full licence continuously since 6th April 1998 (regulation 17(3)).

(d)

The option for a theory test candidate to pay a lower test fee in return for a delay in notification of the result will not be available from 4th January 2000 but from that date all tests must be marked and the results provided on the day of the test. The current lower fee (£15.50) will from that date be payable in the case of every theory test (regulations 26(1), 27(1), 28(1), 30(1) and 47(1) and (2)).

(e)

Persons holding a full licence authorising the driving of vehicles in sub-category B1 (invalid carriages) are exempted from the fee when taking a test for a licence authorising the driving of vehicles in category B (regulation 35(5)).

(f)

Certain spent provisions are omitted.

In addition, some provisions in Parts II, III and V have been rearranged and some minor drafting changes have been made.

Notes on the whole SI

Textual amendments

F1: 1988 c. 52. Relevant amendments are referred to where appropriate below. Amending statutes and instruments are referred to in the footnotes to these Regulations in the following manner: “the 1989 Act" means the Road Traffic (Driver Licensing and Information Systems) Act 1989 (c. 22); “the 1990 Regulations" means the Driving Licences (Community Driving Licence) Regulations 1990 (S.I. 1990/144), “the 1991 Act" means the Road Traffic Act 1991 (c. 40), “the 1996 Regulations" means the Driving Licences (Community Driving Licence) Regulations 1996 (S.I. 1996/1974) and “the 1998 Regulations" means the Driving Licences (Community Driving Licence) Regulations 1998 (S.I. 1998/1420).
F2: Subsection (6) was amended by the 1990 Regulations.
F3: Subsection (1A) was inserted by the 1996 Regulations, subsections (2A) and (5A) were inserted by the 1989 Act, section 6; subsection (3) was amended by the 1991 Act, Schedule 4, paragraph 63; subsection (4) was amended by the 1989 Act, Schedule 3, paragraph 8 and by the 1996 Regulations; subsection (7) was amended and subsections (9) and (10) were substituted by the 1989 Act, Schedule 3, paragraph 8 and subsections (7), (9) and (10) were amended by the 1996 Regulations. Subsection (4)(b) is to be read with the Department of Transport (Fees) Order 1988 (S.I. 1988/643), as amended by S.I. 1991/811, 1993/1601, 1995/1684 and 1996/1929, the relevant entries being items 5, 5A and 6 in Schedule 1, Table III.
F4: Section 89A was inserted by the 1989 Act, section 4(4).
F5: Subsection (2) was amended by the 1996 Regulations.
F6: Subsections (4) and (5) were amended by the 1989 Act, section 5(7) and (8).
F7: Subsections (1) and (3) were amended by the 1989 Act, section 6(2) and Schedule 6 and by the 1996 and 1998 Regulations, subsection (1A) was inserted by the 1998 Regulations; subsections (3A) and (3B) were inserted by the 1989 Act, section 6(2) and subsection (3A) was amended by the 1996 and 1998 Regulations; subsection (4) was amended by the 1996 and 1998 Regulations; subsection (4) was amended by the 1998 Regulations.
F8: Subsections (2) and (4) were amended by the 1989 Act, Schedule 3, paragraph 11. Subsection (2) was amended by the 1990 Regulations.
F9: Subsection (1) was amended by Schedule 3, paragraph 12, of the 1989 Act; subsection (1A) was inserted by section 2(2) of that Act.
F10: Section 99A was inserted by the 1996 Regulations; subsection (4) was amended by the 1998 Regulations.
F11: Subsection (2) was amended by the 1989 Act, Schedule 3, paragraph 14 and by the 1990, 1996 and 1998 Regulations; subsection (4) was amended by the 1996 Regulations.
F12: See the definitions of “prescribed" and “regulations".
F13: Sections 114, 115, 116 and 117 to 122 (Part IV of the Act) were substituted by the 1989 Act, section 2(1) and Schedule 2, Section 114(1) was amended by the 1996 Regulations.
F14: Subsection (3) was amended by the 1991 Act, Schedule 4, paragraph 64 and the 1996 Regulations.
F15: Section 115A was inserted by the 1996 Regulations.
F16: Subsection (2A) was inserted by the 1991 Act, Schedule 4, paragraph 65.
F17: See the definition of “prescribed".
F18: Amended by the 1990 Regulations.
F19: Amended by the 1991 Act, Schedule 4, paragraph 68.
F20: Inserted by the 1989 Act, Schedule 3, paragraph 23.
F21: See the definition of “prescribed".
F22: See section 105(4) of the Road Traffic Act 1988.