Statutory Instruments

2003 No. 1562

DISABLED PERSONS

TRANSPORT

The Rail Vehicle Accessibility (Great Eastern Railway Class 360 Vehicles) Exemption Order 2003

Made

15th June 2003

Laid before Parliament

16th June 2003

Coming into force

15th July 2003

The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by section 47(1), (3) and (4) of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995(1), having consulted the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee and such other persons as he considered appropriate in accordance with section 47(3) of that Act, hereby makes the following Order:

Citation and commencement

1.  This Order may be cited as the Rail Vehicle Accessibility (Great Eastern Railway Class 360 Vehicles) Exemption Order 2003 and shall come into force on 15th July 2003.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In this Order “the exempted vehicles” means the rail vehicles numbered 72551 to 72571, which form part of the fleet of electric multiple-units numbered 360101 to 360121, manufactured by Siemens plc for use by Great Eastern Railway Limited.

(2) Any reference in this Order to a numbered regulation is a reference to a regulation bearing that number in the Rail Vehicle Accessibility Regulations 1998(2).

Authorisation and exemption

3.  Subject to articles 4 and 5, the exempted vehicles are hereby authorised to be used for carriage even though they do not conform with regulation 14(b), in so far as it applies to a folding nappy-changing table in any toilet cubicle to which regulation 20 applies.

Expiry

4.  The exemption given by article 3 in respect of regulation 14(b) shall cease at the end of October 2018.

5.  The authorisation given by article 3 shall cease forthwith in respect of any exempted vehicle if the electric multiple-unit of which that vehicle forms a part is operated by a person other than Great Eastern Railway Limited unless the Secretary of State has been given written notice in advance specifying the name and address of that other person.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Transport

David Jamieson

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State,

Department for Transport

15th June 2003

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order authorises the use for carriage of specified rail vehicles forming part of the fleet of Class 360 electric multiple-units even though they do not conform with regulation 14(b) of the Rail Vehicle Accessibility Regulations (S.I. 1998/2456, amended by S.I. 2000/3215) because more force than is permitted is required to operate the folding nappy-changing table, which is situated in the wheelchair accessible toilet cubicle.

The Order imposes a time limit on the authorisation.

(2)

S.I. 1998/2456, to which amendments have been made which are not relevant to this Order.