4.—(1) This Article shall apply to any person who—
(a)participates in an existing scheme in connection with his employment by a nationalised transport body,
(b)at any time after the vesting date ceases to be in the employment of that nationalised transport body, and
(c)re-enters the employment of that nationalised transport body, or enters the employment of another nationalised transport body, after an intervening period not exceeding twelve months.
(2) Subject as hereinafter provided, the trustees of, or the persons administering, the relevant scheme shall have power, with the consent of the former employing body and the new employing body, and, where the scheme is an insurance scheme, the insurance company, to grant to a person to whom this Article applies permission, in accordance with the provisions of this Article, to re-enter that scheme in connection with his new employment upon the terms hereinafter mentioned.
(3) A person desiring to re-enter an existing scheme under the provisions of this Article shall, within three months of the date of his entering the new employment or the date of the coming into operation of this Order (whichever date is later), make application in writing to the trustees of, or the persons administering, that scheme for permission to re-enter it, and the trustees or the persons aforesaid shall consider that application and may, if they think fit, and subject to the consents specified in paragraph (2) of this Article, decide to grant that application, or they may decide to reject that application, and in any case they shall, as soon as may be after making their decision, notify the applicant thereof in writing.
(4) The terms upon which a person may be permitted to re-enter an existing scheme under the provisions of this Article shall, subject as hereinafter provided, be such terms (including terms for the repayment of any withdrawal benefits) as the trustees of, or the persons administering, that scheme may prescribe.
(5) The terms referred to in the last preceding paragraph of this Article may (to the extent specified thereby) provide, in respect of the person concerned, for the periods of his former employment and his new employment to be aggregated for the purposes of the relevant scheme and may also (to the extent specified thereby) provide for the intervening period to be taken into account in calculating any minimum qualifying period of service under the terms of that scheme, but except as aforesaid, and except also in so far as any transfer value from another pension scheme may (under reciprocal arrangements for the preservation of pension rights) be received in respect of the intervening period by the trustees of, or the persons administering, the relevant scheme, such terms shall not provide for any part of the intervening period to be regarded as a period of pensionable service for the purposes of that scheme nor shall they permit the person concerned to acquire pension rights in respect of that period by making payments (whether calculated on the basis of employer's or employee's contributions or otherwise) to the trustees of, or the persons administering, that scheme.