Road Traffic Act 1960

Drivers, Conductors and Passengers

144 Drivers' and conductors' licences

(1) A person shall not drive, or act as conductor of, a public service vehicle on a road unless he is licensed for the purpose under this section, and a person shall not employ a person who is not so licensed to drive, or act as conductor of, a public service vehicle on a road.

(2) The authority having power to grant under this section a licence to a person to drive, or act as conductor of, a public service vehicle shall be—

(a) where the person seeking the grant of the licence is, at the time of application therefor, resident in a traffic area other than the Metropolitan Traffic Area, the traffic commissioners for the traffic area in which he then resides;

(b) where the person seeking the grant of the licence is, at the time aforesaid, resident in the Metropolitan Traffic Area, the commissioner of police of the metropolis.

(3) A person shall be disqualified for obtaining a licence to drive a public service vehicle unless he is over the age of twenty-one, and for obtaining a licence to act as conductor of a public service vehicle unless he is over the age of eighteen, and a person shall be disqualified from obtaining either such licence unless he fulfils such other conditions as may be prescribed.

(4) A licence to drive a public service vehicle may be limited to such type or types of vehicle as may be specified in the licence.

(5) A licence to drive, or act as conductor of, a public service vehicle may at any time be suspended or revoked by the authority by whom it was granted upon the ground that, by reason of his conduct or physical disability, the holder is not a fit person to hold such a licence; and a licence suspended under this subsection shall during the time of suspension be of no effect.

(6) A licence to drive, or act as conductor of, a public service vehicle shall, unless previously revoked, continue in force for three years from the date on which it is expressed to take effect.

(7) A licence granted under this section to a person resident in any traffic area shall be valid in every other traffic area.

(8) A person who contravenes subsection (1) of this section shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds, or in the case of a second or subsequent conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months.

145 Appeals to courts of summary jurisdiction in connection with drivers' and conductors' licences

(1) A person who, being the holder of or an applicant for a licence to drive, or act as conductor of, a public service vehicle, feels aggrieved by the refusal or failure of the traffic commissioners or the commissioner of police of the metropolis, to grant, or by the suspension or revocation of, such a licence, or by any limitation imposed thereon, may by notice in writing to the commissioners or commissioner, as the case may be, require them or him to reconsider the matter and shall on the reconsideration be entitled to be heard either personally or by his representative.

(2) A person who is so aggrieved as aforesaid or who is dissatisfied with the decision of the commissioners or commissioner on the reconsideration of the matter may appeal—

(a) if he resides in England or Wales, to a magistrates' court acting for the petty sessions area in which he resides,

(b) if he resides in Scotland, to the sheriff within whose jurisdiction he resides,

and on any such appeal the court or sheriff may make such order as it or he thinks fit and any order so made shall be binding on the commissioners or commissioner.

(3) Where the applicant for such a licence, who is at the date of his application the holder of a licence, appeals under this section on the ground of refusal or failure to grant the licence, the existing licence shall continue in force until the appeal has been disposed of, notwithstanding the provisions of the last foregoing section as to the expiry of the licence by effluxion of time.

146 Regulation of conduct of drivers and conductors

(1) Regulations may make provision as to the conduct of persons licensed to act as drivers or conductors of public service vehicles when acting as such.

(2) If a person to whom regulations having effect by virtue of this section apply contravenes, or fails to comply with, any of the provisions of the regulations, he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding five pounds, and the court by which he is convicted may, if it thinks fit, cause particulars of the conviction to be endorsed upon the licence granted to that person under section one hundred and forty-four of this Act.

(3) The person who has the custody of the licence shall, if so required by the convicting court, produce the licence within a reasonable time for the purpose of endorsement, and if he fails to do so, shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds, or in the case of a second or subsequent conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months.

147 Regulation of conduct of passengers

(1) Regulations may make provision generally as to the conduct of passengers in public service vehicles and in particular (but without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provision) for—

(a) authorising the removal from a public service vehicle of a person infringing the regulations by the driver or conductor of the vehicle or on the request of the driver or conductor by a police constable;

(b) requiring a passenger in a public service vehicle who is reasonably suspected by the driver or conductor thereof of contravening the regulations to give his name and address to a police constable or to the driver or conductor on demand;

(c) requiring a passenger to declare, if so requested by the driver or conductor, the journey he intends to take or has taken in the vehicle, and to pay the fare for the whole of that journey and to accept any ticket provided therefor;

(d) requiring, on demand being made for the purpose by the driver or conductor or other person authorised by the licensee of the vehicle, production during the journey and surrender at the end of the journey by the holder thereof of any ticket issued to him;

(e) requiring a passenger, if so requested by the driver or conductor, to leave the vehicle on the completion of the journey the fare for which he has paid;

(f) requiring the surrender by the holder thereof on the expiry of the period for which it is issued of a ticket issued to him.

(2) If a person contravenes, or fails to comply with, a provision of regulations having effect by virtue of this section, he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding five pounds.

148 Control of number of passengers

(1) Regulations may make provision with respect to public service vehicles providing for—

(a) the determination by or under the regulations of the number of the seated passengers and standing passengers respectively whom a vehicle is constructed or adapted and fit to carry;

(b) the determination by or under the regulations of the number of such passengers respectively who may be carried in a vehicle;

(c) the marks to be carried on a vehicle showing the numbers aforesaid and the manner in which those marks are to be carried.

(2) If a person contravenes, or fails to comply with, a provision of regulations having effect by virtue of this section, he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds.