Article 8

In any proceedings for an offence committed before 1st April 1987 under or by virtue of the 1847 Act or of the 1889 Act as applied in either case in an area by section 15 of the 1985 Act, it shall be a defence for the person charged to prove that he was an operator of a hackney carriage before 1st January 1987 in that area.

For the purposes of this article, a person is an operator of a hackney carriage in an area if he is a person to whom section 45 of the 1847 Act would apply if that section applied in that area at that time.