Part 3 - Restriction on providing local bus services
50.Section 23 prohibits anyone from providing a local bus service in Wales, unless that service is:
subject to a local bus service contact,
subject to a local bus service permit, or
directly provided by the Welsh Ministers under section 18.
51.Section 23(2) provides that community bus services (i.e., services provided under a permit under section 22 of the 1985 Act) and services provided as described in section 46 of the 1981 Act (i.e., paying passengers on school buses) are not caught by the restriction. This means that these local bus services will be able to operate in Wales without needing to be granted a local bus service contract or permit. The section also confers power on the Welsh Ministers to make regulations that bring other services within the restriction, or exclude services from it (section 23(3)).
52.Section 24 requires the Welsh Ministers to inform a traffic commissioner if they consider that a person is operating or has operated a local bus service in contravention of section 23.
53.Under section 25, if a traffic commissioner is satisfied that a service is being, or has been, operated in breach of the restriction and the person operating the service has failed to take all reasonable steps to avoid such a breach, the traffic commissioner may impose a monetary penalty not exceeding 110% of the upper limit (as defined in the section) (section 25(2)(a)) and/or make one or more orders of any other descriptions prescribed by the Welsh Ministers in regulations (section 25(2)(b)).
54.Where a person fails to comply with an order, and either the order has been upheld on appeal, or the period within which an appeal can be brought has elapsed and no appeal has been made, an additional monetary penalty, again not exceeding 110% of the upper limit (as defined in the section) can be imposed by a traffic commissioner (section 25(3) and (4)). (Although this is not referred to in the section, the effect is that in a case where more than one order is made under section 25(2), and not complied with, the traffic commissioner can potentially impose an additional penalty in respect of each order that has not been complied with.)
55.The upper limit for an operator who is licensed to use vehicles under a PSV operator’s licence is the amount calculated by multiplying the total number of vehicles used under all the PSV licences held by that operator by an amount specified in regulations by the Welsh Ministers or, if no amount is specified, by £550. The upper limit for an operator who is not licensed to use vehicles under a PSV licence is an amount specified in regulations by the Welsh Ministers or, if no amount is specified, £550.
56.Section 26 enables appeals to be made to the Upper Tribunal, against an order made under section 25(2) (in respect of a breach of the restriction), and an order made under section 25(3) (in respect of a failure to comply with an order under section 25(2)), and provides for the Upper Tribunal to uphold the order in respect of which the appeal was brought, or to quash it, or to substitute another order for it.
