PART I PRELIMINARY

3 Interpretation
1 In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, the following expressions have the meanings hereby respectively assigned to them, that is to say:—
“1972 Act” means the Road Traffic Act 1972;
“1981 Act” means the Public Passenger Vehicles Act 1981;
“1985 Act” means the Transport Act 1985;
“clerk to the traffic commissioner” means the clerk to the traffic commissioner for any traffic area constituted for the purposes of the 1981 Act;
“controlled by a pedestrian” in relation to a vehicle means that the vehicle either—
(a) is constructed or adapted for use under such control; or
(b) is constructed or adapted for use either under such control or under the control of a person carried on it but is not for the time being in use under, or proceeding under, the control of a person carried on it;
“disability” includes disease;
“full licence” means a licence other than a provisional licence;
“group” in relation to a class of motor vehicles means a group of motor vehicles of the classes specified in the second column of Schedule 3, and a group identified by a letter means the group corresponding to the letter in the first column of that Schedule;
“kerbside weight” means the weight of a vehicle when it carries—
(a) in the case of a motor vehicle—
(i) no person; and
(ii) a full supply of fuel in its tank, an adequate supply of other liquids incidental to its propulsion and no load other than the tools and equipment with which it is normally equipped; or
(b) in the case of a trailer, no person and is otherwise unladen;
“licence” means a licence to drive a motor vehicle granted under Part III of the 1972 Act;
“licensing authority” means the Secretary of State;
“maximum speed” means the speed which a vehicle is incapable, by reason of its construction, of exceeding on the level under its own power when fully laden;
“moped” means—
(a) in the case only of motor cycles which are first used on or after 1st August 1977, a motor cycle (not being a motor vehicle of group K) which has a maximum speed which does not exceed 30 miles per hour, a kerbside weight which does not exceed 250 kilograms, and, if propelled by an internal combustion engine, an engine the cylinder capacity of which does not exceed 50 cubic centimetres, or
(b) in the case only of motor cycles which are first used before 1st August 1977, a motor cycle which has an engine with a cylinder capacity not exceeding 50 cubic centimetres and is equipped with pedals by means of which the cycle is capable of being propelled;
“part of a test” means Part I or Part II, as the case may require, of the test for motor bicycles prescribed by regulation 20;
“provisional licence” means a licence granted by virtue of section 88(2) of the 1972 Act;
“test” means a test of competence to drive conducted under section 85 of the 1972 Act and includes a reference to a part of a test;
“vehicle propelled by electrical power” means a vehicle of which the motive power is solely derived from any electrical storage battery carried on the vehicle and not connected to any source of power when the vehicle is in motion;
“vehicle with automatic transmission” means a vehicle in which the driver is not provided with any means whereby he may, independently of the use of the accelerator or the brakes, vary gradually the proportion of the power being produced by the engine which is transmitted to the road wheels of the vehicle.
1981 c. 14.
1985 c. 67.
2 In determining for the purpose of these Regulations when a motor cycle is first used, the date of such first use shall be taken to be such date as is the earliest of the undermentioned relevant dates applicable to that cycle—
(a) in the case of a motor cycle registered under the Roads Act 1920, the Vehicles (Excise) Act 1949, the Vehicles (Excise) Act 1962 or the Vehicles (Excise) Act 1971, the relevant date is the date on which it was first so registered; and
1920 c. 72.
1949 c. 89.
1962 c. 13.
1971 c. 10.
(b) in each of the following cases:—
(i) in the case of a motor cycle which is being or has been used under a trade licence as defined in section 16 of the Vehicles (Excise) Act 1971 (otherwise than for the purposes of demonstration or testing or of being delivered from premises of the manufacturer by whom it was made, or of a distributor of vehicles or dealer in vehicles to premises of a distributor of vehicles, dealer in vehicles or purchaser thereof, or to premises of a person obtaining possession thereof under a hiring agreement or hire purchase agreement);
(ii) in the case of a motor cycle which belongs or has belonged to the Crown and which is or was used or appropriated for use for naval, military or air force purposes;
(iii) in the case of a motor cycle which belongs or has belonged to a visiting force or a headquarters or defence organisation to which in each case the Visiting Forces and International Headquarters (Application of Law) Order 1965 applies;
S.I. 1965/1536.
(iv) in the case of a motor cycle which has been used on roads outside Great Britain and has been imported into Great Britain; and
(v) in the case of a motor cycle which has been used otherwise than on roads after being sold or supplied by retail and before being registered,
the relevant date is the date of manufacture of the cycle.
In this paragraph “sold or supplied by retail” means sold or supplied otherwise than to a person acquiring solely for the purpose of re-sale or re-supply for a valuable consideration.
3 The provisions of paragraph 6 of Schedule 9 to the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 shall apply for determining, for the purposes of the definition of “moped” in paragraph (1), whether the maximum speed of a motor cycle does not exceed 30 mph.
S.I. 1986/1078, to which there are no relevant amending instruments.
4 Except where otherwise expressly provided, any reference in these Regulations to a numbered regulation or Schedule is a reference to the regulation or Schedule bearing that number in these Regulations, and any reference to a numbered paragraph is a reference to the paragraph bearing that number in the regulation in which the reference occurs.