Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) (Amendment No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

These Regulations further amend the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 as follows—

(a) A person supervising the holder of a provisional licence to drive large goods or passenger-carrying vehicles is required to have held a driving licence for a total period of not less than 3 years and to have held continuously since 1st November 1998 a licence to drive the class of vehicle in which he is travelling (regulation 2).

(b) A vehicle provided by a person taking a practical test for a full category B licence is, subject to certain exceptions, required to be fitted with satisfactory seat belts, head restraints and a rear view mirror for the examiner (regulation 4).

(c) The minimum duration of practical or unitary tests for vehicles in categories A, B, F, G, H, K and P is extended from 25 to 30 minutes (regulation 5).

(d) The criteria under which a person suffering from insulin-treated diabetes may be granted a licence to drive vehicles in sub-category C1 are altered (regulation 6).

(e) A new Schedule of driving test fees is introduced, in which there are the following changes from the previous Schedule—

(i) the fee for a test, other than an extended test, for vehicles in categories A, A1, B1 (other than B1 invalid carriages) and P is increased from £38·00 to £42·50 for a test commencing during normal hours and from £48·50 to £53·50 for a test commencing out of hours,

(ii) the fee for a test, other than an extended test, for vehicles in categories B, F, G, H and K is increased from £27·00 to £32·00 for a test commencing during normal hours and from £38·50 to £43·00 for a test commencing out of hours,

(iii) the fee for an extended test during normal hours for a vehicle in category A is increased from £76·00 to £85·00, and

(iv) the fee for an extended test during normal hours for a vehicle in category B is increased from £54·00 to £64·00 (regulation 7 and Schedule 1).

(f) The syllabuses for theory tests prescribed for categories C and D are extended to include a wider range of matters (regulation 8 and Schedule 2).