The Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) (Amendment) Regulations 2018

Statutory Instruments

2018 No. 784

Road Traffic

The Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) (Amendment) Regulations 2018

Made

27th June 2018

Laid before Parliament

2nd July 2018

Coming into force

24th July 2018

The Secretary of State makes the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972(1).

The Secretary of State is a Minister designated for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 in relation to the licensing of drivers(2).

Citation and commencement

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) (Amendment) Regulations 2018.

(2) These Regulations come into force on 24th July 2018.

Amendments to the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations 1999

2.—(1) The Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations 1999(3) are amended as follows.

(2) After regulation 7(10), insert—

“(11) A person who holds a relevant full licence authorising the driving of vehicles included in category B, and who has undertaken a minimum of five hours training by a registered instructor on the driving of an alternatively fuelled vehicle with a maximum authorised mass exceeding 3,500 kilograms, may drive such a vehicle provided its maximum authorised mass does not exceed 4,250 kilograms, when that vehicle—

(a) is being driven for the purpose of transporting goods;

(b) is not being driven outside the territory of Great Britain;

(c) has no trailer attached.

(12) For the purposes of this regulation —

“an alternatively fuelled vehicle” means a motor vehicle powered by—

(a)

electricity, natural gas, biogas or hydrogen; or

(b)

hydrogen and electricity; and

“a registered instructor” means a person who is on the National Register of LGV instructors(4) or the National Vocational Driving Instructors Register(5).”.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Transport

Jesse Norman

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

Department for Transport

27th June 2018

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations provide that the holder of a category B licence may drive certain types of alternatively-fuelled vehicles which exceed the maximum authorised mass of a category B vehicle.

These Regulations relate to a European Commission Decision dated 4th May 2018 authorising the United Kingdom to exclude certain vehicles used for the transport of goods from the application of Article 4(4)(b) of Directive 2006/126/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 on driving licences (“the Third Directive”). This Decision was made pursuant to article 4(5) of the Third Directive.

These Regulations amend the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations 1999 (“the 1999 Regulations”). Regulation 7 of the 1999 Regulations is amended to allow the holder of a category B licence to drive alternatively fuelled vehicles with a maximum authorised mass which exceeds 3,500 kilograms, up to a maximum authorised mass of 4,250 kilograms provided that person has undertaken five hours of training on the driving of an alternatively fuelled vehicle with a maximum authorised mass exceeding 3,500 kilograms with an instructor on the National Register of LGV Instructors or the National Vocational Driving Instructors Register.

A full impact assessment has not been published for these Regulations as there is no impact on business or charities or the voluntary sector. An Explanatory Memorandum is published alongside the instrument at www.legislation.gov.uk.

(1)

1972 c. 68; section 2(2) was amended by section 27(1)(a) of the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006 (c. 51) and by section 3(3) and Part 1 of the Schedule to the European Union (Amendment) Act 2008 (c. 7).

(2)

As designated by article 2 and Schedule 1 to the European Communities (Designation) (No. 4) Order 2002 (S.I. 2002/2840)

(3)

S.I. 1999/2864; relevant amending instruments are S.I. 2012/977, S.I. 2014/613 and S.I. 2014/3190. There are other amendments that are not relevant to these Regulations.

(4)

http://lgvinstructorregister.com.

(5)

http://www.lgvregister.org.uk.