Article 4Right to conduct regular and special regular coach and bus services
1
United Kingdom coach and bus service operators may, under the conditions laid down in this Regulation, conduct permitted carriage of passengers by coach and bus constituting regular and special regular services.
2
United Kingdom coach and bus service operators shall be in possession of an authorisation issued prior to the date of application of this Regulation in accordance with Articles 6 to 11 of Regulation (EC) No 1073/2009 to conduct permitted regular and special regular coach and bus services for hire and reward.
3
The authorisations that remain valid under paragraph 2 of this Article may continue to be used for the purposes specified in paragraph 1 of this Article if they have been renewed under the same terms and conditions, or altered only in terms of stops, fares or schedule, and subject to the rules and procedures of Articles 6 to 11 of Regulation (EC) No 1073/2009 for a period of validity not extending beyond 30 June 2021.
4
Permitted carriage of passengers by coach and bus carried out by natural or legal persons established in the United Kingdom for non-commercial and non-profit-making purposes may be conducted without a licence being required, where:
a
the transport activity is only an ancillary activity for that natural or legal person; and
b
the vehicles used are the property of that natural or legal person or have been obtained by that person on deferred terms or have been the subject of a long-term leasing contract, and are driven by a member of the staff of the natural or legal person, by the natural person himself, or by personnel employed by the undertaking or put at its disposal under a contractual obligation.
Those transport operations shall be exempt from any system of authorisation within the Union, provided that the person carrying out the activity is in possession of a national authorisation issued prior to the first day of application of this Regulation as referred to in the first subparagraph of Article 12(2) of this Regulation in accordance with Article 3(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1073/2009.
5
A change of vehicle, or an interruption of carriage to enable part of a journey to be made by another means of transport, shall not affect the application of this Regulation.