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Part 12 E+W+SDisabled persons: transport

Chapter 3E+W+SRail vehicles

182Rail vehicle accessibility regulationsE+W+S

(1)The Secretary of State may make regulations (in this Chapter referred to as “rail vehicle accessibility regulations”) for securing that it is possible for disabled persons—

(a)to get on to and off regulated rail vehicles in safety and without unreasonable difficulty;

(b)to do so while in wheelchairs;

(c)to travel in such vehicles in safety and reasonable comfort;

(d)to do so while in wheelchairs.

(2)The regulations may, in particular, make provision as to the construction, use and maintenance of regulated rail vehicles including provision as to—

(a)the fitting of equipment to vehicles;

(b)equipment to be carried by vehicles;

(c)the design of equipment to be fitted to, or carried by, vehicles;

(d)the use of equipment fitted to, or carried by, vehicles;

(e)the toilet facilities to be provided in vehicles;

(f)the location and floor area of the wheelchair accommodation to be provided in vehicles;

(g)assistance to be given to disabled persons.

(3)The regulations may contain different provision—

(a)as respects different classes or descriptions of rail vehicle;

(b)as respects the same class or description of rail vehicle in different circumstances;

(c)as respects different networks.

(4)In this section—

(5)In subsection (4)—

(6)The Secretary of State must exercise the power to make rail vehicle accessibility regulations so as to secure that on and after 1 January 2020 every rail vehicle is a regulated rail vehicle.

(7)Subsection (6) does not affect subsection (3), section 183(1) or section 207(4)(a).

(8)Before making regulations under subsection (1) or section 183, the Secretary of State must consult—

(a)the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee, and

(b)such other representative organisations as the Secretary of State thinks fit.

183Exemptions from rail vehicle accessibility regulationsE+W+S

(1)The Secretary of State may by order (an “exemption order”)—

(a)authorise the use for carriage of a regulated rail vehicle even though the vehicle does not conform with the provisions of rail vehicle accessibility regulations with which it is required to conform;

(b)authorise a regulated rail vehicle to be used for carriage otherwise than in conformity with the provisions of rail vehicle accessibility regulations with which use of the vehicle is required to conform.

(2)Authority under subsection (1)(a) or (b) may be for—

(a)a regulated rail vehicle that is specified or of a specified description,

(b)use in specified circumstances of a regulated rail vehicle, or

(c)use in specified circumstances of a regulated rail vehicle that is specified or of a specified description.

F4(3). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(4)After consulting the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee and such other persons as the Secretary of State thinks appropriate, the Secretary of State may—

(a)make an exemption order in the terms of the application for the order;

(b)make an exemption order in such other terms as the Secretary of State thinks appropriate;

(c)refuse to make an exemption order.

(5)The Secretary of State may make an exemption order subject to such conditions and restrictions as are specified.

(6)Specified” means specified in an exemption order.

[F5(7)Section 207(2) does not require an exemption order to be made by statutory instrument; but such an order is as capable of being amended or revoked as an order made by statutory instrument.]

F6184Procedure for making exemption ordersE+W+S

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Textual Amendments

185Annual report on exemption ordersE+W+S

(1)After the end of each calendar year the Secretary of State must prepare a report on—

(a)the exercise in that year of the power to make orders under section 183(1);

F7(b). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(2)A report under subsection (1) must (in particular) contain—

(a)details of each order made under section 183(1) in the year in question;

(b)details of consultation carried out under [F8section 183(4)] in connection with orders made in that year under section 183(1).

(3)The Secretary of State must lay before Parliament each report prepared under this section.

186Rail vehicle accessibility: complianceE+W+S

F9. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Textual Amendments

F9S. 186 repealed (31.12.2010) by Equality Act 2010 (c. 15), ss. 186(2), 216 (with ss. 6(4), 205)

187InterpretationE+W+S

(1)In this Chapter—

(2)For the purposes of this Chapter a vehicle is used “for carriage” if it is used for the carriage of passengers.