Prospective
(1)After section 128 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (c. 52) (as substituted by Schedule 6 to the Road Safety Act 2006 (c. 49)) (termination of registration by Registrar) insert—
(1)The Registrar may suspend a person's registration in respect of any description of driving instruction if the Registrar—
(a)has given, or is about to give, the person notice under section 127(5) or 128(4) in relation to the person's registration in respect of that description of driving instruction,
(b)is considering whether to refuse the application for an extension of the person's registration or (as the case may be) whether to terminate the person's registration, or has decided so to refuse or terminate but the decision is not yet in effect, and
(c)believes that the person would pose a significant threat to the safety of members of the public if the person's registration were not suspended.
(2)The Registrar must, on deciding to suspend a person's registration in respect of any description of driving instruction, give written notice of the decision to the person.
(3)The decision to suspend takes effect on the giving of the notice.
(4)No notice may be given under subsection (2) before the notice under section 127(5) or (as the case may be) 128(4) is given but the subsection (2) notice may be included in the section 127(5) or 128(4) notice if the section 127(5) or 128(4) notice is still to be given when the decision to suspend is made.
(5)A suspension under this section is terminated if—
(a)the Registrar decides not to refuse the application for an extension of the person's registration or (as the case may be) decides not to terminate the person's registration,
(b)the Registrar decides to refuse the application for an extension of the person's registration or (as the case may be) to terminate the person's registration but the decision has not taken effect and an appeal against the decision is successfully concluded,
(c)the Registrar has not decided whether to refuse the application for an extension of the person's registration or (as the case may be) whether to terminate the person's registration and the period of 75 days beginning with the giving of the section 127(5) or 128(4) notice has ended,
(d)the person's registration is terminated (whether under section 128 or otherwise), or
(e)the Registrar decides to terminate the suspension.
(6)The Registrar must give written notice to a person of the fact that the person's suspension is terminated as mentioned in subsection (5)(a) to (c) or (e).
(7)For the purposes of this Part of this Act, the fact that a person's registration is suspended does not prevent the person from being “registered”; and “registration” is to be construed accordingly.”
(2)In section 123(1)(a) and (b) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (c. 52) (as substituted by Schedule 6 to the Act of 2006) (prohibition on giving paid driving instruction or carrying on business in the provision of paid driving instruction when unregistered) after “of driving instruction” insert “ and the registration is not suspended ”.
(3)In section 123A(3) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (as substituted by Schedule 6 to the Act of 2006) (defence to offence of contravening the prohibition) after “question” insert “ or (as the case may be) that the registration was at that time suspended ”.
(4)In section 142 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (as substituted by Schedule 6 to the Act of 2006) (index to Part 5), in the entry in the table for “Registered and registration”, for “Section 123(7)” substitute “ Sections 123(7) and 128ZA(7) ”.
(5)In subsection (1) of section 18 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 (c. 53) (as it has effect with the substitution of paragraphs (a) to (d) of that subsection by Schedule 6 to the Act of 2006) (evidence by certificate as to registration etc. of driving instructors etc.), after paragraph (b) and before the word “or” at the end of the paragraph, insert—
“(ba)a person's registration was, or was not, suspended,”.
After section 128ZA of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (c. 52) (as inserted or to be inserted by section 1(1) above) insert—
(1)The Secretary of State must by regulations make a scheme for the making of payments by the Secretary of State to persons in respect of one or more of the following—
(a)income losses incurred by them as a result of their registrations being suspended by virtue of section 128ZA,
(b)non-income losses so incurred, and
(c)any other matters which relate to such a suspension and are provided for in the scheme.
(2)No payments may be made under a scheme in respect of a person's suspension unless—
(a)the suspension is terminated because the Registrar decides not to refuse the application for an extension of the person's registration or (as the case may be) decides not to terminate the person's registration,
(b)an appeal is successfully concluded against the decision of the Registrar to refuse the application for an extension of the person's registration or (as the case may be) to terminate the person's registration (whether or not the Registrar's decision has taken effect), or
(c)any other circumstances provided for in the scheme apply.
(3)Where the decision of the Registrar to refuse the application for an extension of the person's registration or (as the case may be) to terminate the person's registration has taken effect before an appeal against it is successfully concluded, any payments under a scheme may relate only to the suspension.
(4)A scheme may, in particular, specify—
(a)the description or descriptions of income losses, or
(b)the description or descriptions of non-income losses,
in respect of which payments are to be made but need not provide for the making of payments in respect of all income losses or all non-income losses or for the making of payments which correspond to the full amount of any income losses or non-income losses.
(5)A scheme may also, in particular—
(a)specify the basis or bases of valuation for determining losses or the person who is to decide their valuation,
(b)specify the amounts of payments to be made or the basis or bases on which such amounts are to be calculated,
(c)provide for the procedure to be followed (including when claims may be made and the provision of information) in respect of claims under the scheme and for the determination of such claims.
(6)A person who is aggrieved by a decision of the Secretary of State as to the person's entitlement to payments under a scheme or the amounts of any such payments may appeal to the First-tier Tribunal.
(7)On an appeal, the First-tier Tribunal may make such order as it considers appropriate.
(8)If the Tribunal considers that any evidence adduced on an appeal had not been adduced to the Secretary of State before the making of the decision to which the appeal relates, the Tribunal may (instead of making an order under subsection (7)) remit the matter to the Secretary of State for the Secretary of State to reconsider the decision.
(9)In this section—
“income losses” means losses of income, and
“non-income losses” means losses other than income losses.”