The Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations 1996

Minimum ages for holding or obtaining licences

7.—(1) Subsection (1) of section 101 of the Traffic Act shall have effect as if for the classes of vehicle and the ages specified in the Table in that subsection there were substituted classes of vehicle and ages in accordance with the following provisions of this regulation.

(2) In item 3 (motor bicycles), the age of 21 is substituted for the age of 17 in a case where the motor bicycle is a large motor bicycle except in the following cases, namely—

(a) a case where a person who has passed a test for a licence authorising the driving of a motor vehicle of a class included in category A, other than sub-category A1, and a period of two years commencing on the date when the test was passed has elapsed, and

(b) a case where the large motor bicycle—

(i) is owned or operated by the Secretary of State for Defence, or

(ii) is being driven by a person for the time being subject to the orders of a member of the armed forces of the Crown,

and is being used for naval, military or air force purposes.

(3) In item 4 (agricultural and forestry tractors), in the case of an agricultural or forestry tractor which—

(a) is so constructed that the whole of its weight is transmitted to the road surface by means of wheels,

(b) has an overall width not exceeding 2.45 metres, and

(c) is driven either

(i) without a trailer attached to it, or

(ii) with a trailer which has an overall width not exceeding 2.45 metres and is either a two-wheeled or close-coupled four-wheeled trailer,

the age of 16 is substituted for the age of 17 in the case of a person who has passed a test prescribed in respect of category F, or is proceeding to, taking or returning from, such a test.

(4) In item 5 (small vehicles), the age of 16 is substituted for the age of 17 in the case of—

(a) a person to whom an award of the higher rate component of the disability living allowance has been made in pursuance of section 73 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992(1) (whether before or after his 16th birthday) which is still in force, and

(b) a small vehicle driven without a trailer attached.

(5) In item 6 (medium-sized goods vehicles), the age of 21 is substituted for the age of 18 in the case of a vehicle drawing a trailer where the maximum authorised mass of the combination exceeds 7.5 tonnes.

(6) In item 7 (other vehicles, including large goods and passenger-carrying vehicles), the age of 18 is substituted for the age of 21 in the case of a person driving a small passenger-carrying vehicle which is an ambulance.

(7) In item 7, the age of 18 is substituted for the age of 21 in the case of a motor vehicle and trailer combination which is in sub-category C1 + E and the maximum authorised mass of the combination does not exceed 7.5 tonnes.

(8) In item 7, the age of 18 is substituted for the age of 21 in the case of a person who is a registered employee of a registered employer, in relation to a large goods vehicle which is—

(a) of a class to which his training agreement applies, and

(b) owned or operated by his employer or by a registered LGV training establishment.

(9) In item 7, the age of 18 is substituted for the age of 21 in relation to a passenger-carrying vehicle where—

(a) the driver of the vehicle holds a provisional licence authorising the driving of the vehicle and is not engaged in the carriage of passengers, or

(b) the driver holds a full passenger-carrying vehicle driver’s licence and—

(i) is engaged in the carriage of passengers on a regular service over a route which does not exceed 50 kilometres, or

(ii) where he is not so engaged, is driving a vehicle of a class included in sub-category D1,

and the vehicle is operated under a PSV operator’s licence granted under section 12 of the 1981 Act, a permit granted under section 19 of the 1985 Act or a community bus permit granted under section 22 of that Act.

(10) In items 6 and 7, the age of 17 is substituted for the ages of 18 and 21 respectively in the case of—

(a) motor vehicles owned or operated by the Secretary of State for Defence, or

(b) motor vehicles driven by persons for the time being subject to the orders of a member of the armed forces of the Crown,

when they are being used for naval, military or air force purposes.

(11) In this regulation—

(a) for the purposes of paragraph (3)—

(i) any implement fitted to a tractor shall be deemed to form part of the tractor notwithstanding that it is not a permanent or essentially permanent fixture,

(ii) “close-coupled”, in relation to wheels on the same side of a trailer, means fitted so that at all times while the trailer is in motion the wheels remain parallel to the longitudinal axis of the trailer and that the distance between the centres of their respective areas of contact with the road surface does not exceed 840 millimetres, and

(iii) “overall width”, in relation to a vehicle, means the width of the vehicle measured between vertical planes parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle and passing through the extreme projecting points thereof exclusive of any driving mirror and so much of the distortion of any tyre as is caused by the weight of the vehicle;

(b) for the purposes of paragraph (8), “registered” and “training agreement” have the meanings respectively given in regulation 51;

(c) in paragraph (9), expressions used which are also used in Council Regulation 3820/85/EEC(2) have the same meanings as in that Regulation.

(1)

1992 c. 4.

(2)

OJ No. L370, 31.12.85, p.1. See also regulation 4 of the Community Drivers Hours and Recording Equipment (Exemptions and Supplementary Provisions) Regulations 1986 (S.I. 1986/1456).