The Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Regulations 1995

Made: 6th November 1995

Laid before Parliament: 14th November 1995

Coming into force: 1st January 1996

The Secretary of State for Transport—

(a) in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 2, 5(3) and (8), 8(3), (4) and (5), 10, 11(2), 12(2), (3), (6) and (7), 14(5), 17(2), 18(3), 19(9) and (10), 23(2), 30(1) and (4), 31(5), 33, 34(1), 35(3), 36(2) and (3), 46(1) and (2), 47, 48(2), (3) and (4) and 57(1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (7), (8) and (9) of, and paragraphs 1 and 3 of Schedule 4 to, the Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995, and

(b) being a Minister designated for the purposes of subsection (2) of section 2 of the European Communities Act 1972 in relation to the regulation and supervision of the qualifications of persons engaged in road transport, in exercise of the powers conferred by that section;and in exercise of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations having consulted with representative organisations in accordance with section 57 (12) of the Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995, and the Council on Tribunals in accordance with the requirements of section 8 of the Tribunals and Inquiries Act 1992:—

PART I — GENERAL

Commencement and citation

1

These Regulations may be cited as the Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Regulations 1995, and shall come into force on 1st January 1996.

Revocation

2

The Regulations set out in Schedule 5 are hereby revoked.

Interpretation

3

• (1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, any reference to—

• (a) a numbered section is a reference to the section bearing that number in the Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995;

• (b) a numbered regulation or Schedule is a reference to the regulation or, as the case may be, the Schedule bearing that number in these Regulations; and

• (c) a numbered paragraph is a reference to the paragraph bearing that number in the regulation in which the reference appears.

• (2) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—

• “the 1995 Act" means the Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995;

• “the 2009 Regulation” means Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21st October 2009 establishing common rules concerning the conditions to be complied with to pursue the occupation of road transport operator and repealing Council Directive 96/26/EC;

• “alternative fuel” means one or more of the following—electricity;hydrogen;natural gas, including biomethane, in gaseous form and liquefied form;liquefied petroleum gas;

• “application for a licence" means an application for an operator’s licence for which publication is required by section 10(1);

• “application for the variation of a licence" means an application for the variation of an operator’s licence for which publication is required by section 17(3) and, “application" when used otherwise than as part of those expressions means—an application for a licence, oran application for the variation of a licence;

• “Applications and Decisions" means a statement issued by a traffic commissioner under regulation 21;

• “company" shall be construed as provided in section 1 of the Companies Act 2006;

• “country” includes territory;

• “disc" means a disc issued in accordance with regulation 23(1) and (2) or 27(2);

• “dual purpose vehicle" has the meaning given in column 2 of the Table in regulation 3(2) of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 ;

• “farm" includes a market garden;

• “firm" has the same meaning as in section 4 of the Partnership Act 1890 ;

• “goods vehicle" has the same meaning as in section 58(1) ...;

• “heavy goods vehicle” has the meaning given in section 58(1);

• “keeper", in relation to a goods vehicle, is the person in whose name the vehicle is registered under the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 ;

• “interim licence” means a licence issued under section 24;

• “interim direction” means a direction given by a traffic commissioner pursuant to section 25;

• “international operator” means a person who has an effective and stable establishment in a country other than the United Kingdom that is comparable to an effective and stable establishment in Great Britain as determined in accordance with paragraph A1 of Schedule 3 to the 1995 Act;

• “licence" means an operator’s licence (whether standard or restricted) as defined in section 2(1) and, where the context so requires, includes the documentation which evidences the grant of an application;

• “licence-holder", and “holder" in relation to a licence, mean the person to whom the licence was issued;

• “motor vehicle" means a mechanically propelled vehicle intended or adapted for use on roads;

• “maintenance" in relation to a goods vehicle includes inspection, repair and fuelling;

• “maximum laden weight” has the meaning given in Part IV of Schedule 6 to the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984;

• “officer" has the meaning given in section 42;

• “recovery vehicle" has the same meaning as in Part V of Schedule 1 to the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994;

• “relevant conviction" means any conviction mentioned in paragraph 5 of Schedule 2 to the 1995 Act or any conviction of contravening any provision of the law of Northern Ireland or of a country ...outside the United Kingdom corresponding to any such conviction, not being in either case a spent conviction within the meaning of section 1(1) of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 ;

• “showman’s goods vehicle" has the same meaning as in section 62 of the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994;

• “tower wagon" has the same meaning as in paragraph 17(2) of Schedule 2 to the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 (as originally enacted);

• “trade licence" is a licence granted under section 11 of the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994;

• “transport manager” has the meaning given in section 13A(5);

• . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

PART II — APPLICATIONS

Manner of making applications

4

Every application shall—

• (a) be made on a form supplied by a traffic commissioner and contain the information required by that form;

• (b) be signed—

• (i) if made by an individual, by that person,

• (ii) if made by a firm, by all of the partners of that firm or by one of them with the authority of the others, and

• (iii) if made by any other body or group of persons, by one or more individual persons authorised for that purpose by the body or group;

• (c) if made for the issue of a licence, state whether it relates to a standard licence or to a restricted licence and, if it relates to a standard licence, state whether the licence is to cover—

• (i) both national and international transport operations, or

• (ii) national transport operations only.

Time of applications

5

Every application shall be sent to a traffic commissioner so as to reach him not less than 9 weeks before the time at which the applicant desires the licence or variation applied for to take effect.

Dispensations as to applications

6

A traffic commissioner may consider an application notwithstanding that the requirement specified in regulation 5 has not been complied with.

Notice of applications

7

• (1) The prescribed manner in which a notice of any application for a licence as mentioned in section 10 or for a variation as mentioned in section 17 is published by a traffic commissioner is that a summary of the application which adequately specifies the subject-matter of the application shall be published in Applications and Decisions as mentioned in regulation 21.

• (2) The notice of an application to be published in accordance with section 11 or section 18 shall give the information specified in Schedule 1.

Restrictions on applications

8

• (1) A traffic commissioner may decline to proceed with an application for a licence if it appears to him that the grant of that application would lead to a contravention of section 8(2).

• (2) A traffic commissioner may decline to proceed with an application if and so long as it appears to him that the application relates to any motor vehicle which is specified in an existing licence, and the grant of that application would lead to a contravention of section 5(8).

Inspection of applications

9

• (1) Until an application has been determined, a traffic commissioner shall make available for inspection—

• (a) to any person authorised to make the inspection by a local authority, a planning authority, chief officer of police or trade union or association specified in regulation 10, such part of the application (or the whole of it) as any such person in writing requests to see; and

• (b) to any person who is, by virtue of section 12(4) or 19(2)(b) entitled to make representations in respect of the application, or a person authorised by such a person to make the inspection on his behalf, such part of the application as is, in the opinion of the traffic commissioner, relevant to the representation.

• (2) A traffic commissioner ... shall, during the currency of a licence, make a copy of it available for inspection by any person who appears to the traffic commissioner to have reasonable grounds for making such an inspection.

• (3) A traffic commissioner shall satisfy his obligation under paragraph (1) by—

• (a) making the application or, as the case may be, part of it, available for inspection at an office provided for the use of a traffic commissioner in relation to the traffic area to which the application relates; or

• (b) on prior receipt of his expenses in that behalf, by posting a copy of the application or, as the case may be, part of it, to the address given for that purpose by the person wanting to make the inspection.

• (4) A traffic commissioner shall satisfy his obligation under paragraph (2) by—

• (a) making a copy of the licence or, as the case may require, part of it, available for inspection at an office provided for the use of a traffic commissioner in relation to the traffic area to which the licence relates; or

• (b) on prior receipt of his expenses in that behalf, by posting a copy of the licence or, as the case may require, part of it, to the address given for that purpose by the person requesting to make the inspection.

PART III — OBJECTIONS AND REPRESENTATIONS

Prescribed trade unions and associations

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• (1) The trade unions and associations specified in paragraph (2), being trade unions or associations whose members consist of or include persons holding licences or employees of any such persons, are hereby prescribed as persons who may object as provided in section 12(2), either as applied by section 19(2)(a) or not.

• (2) Those trade unions and associations are—

• The British Association of Removers;

• The Freight Transport Association;

• GMB;

• The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers;

• The Road Haulage Association;

• The Transport and General Workers’ Union;

• The Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers; and

• The United Road Transport Union.

Manner of making objections and representations

11

• (1) For the purposes of sections 12(6)(b), 12(7)(b) and 19(10), the prescribed manner of making an objection to, or representation against, an application is by delivering a document to a traffic commissioner—

• (a) setting out the objection or representation as the case may be; and

• (b) signed—

• (i) if made by an individual, by that person,

• (ii) if made by a firm, by all of the partners of that firm or by one of them with the authority of the others,

• (iii) if made by any other body or group of persons, by one or more individual persons authorised for that purpose by the body or group,

or, in any of the above cases, by a solicitor acting on behalf of (as the case may be) the person, firm, body or group.

• (2) A copy of the document delivered under paragraph (1) shall be sent by the objector, or the person making the representation, to the applicant on the same day as, or the next working day after, the delivery to the traffic commissioner.

Time of making objections and representations

12

• (1) The prescribed time within which an objection under section 12(1)(a) or (b) to an application for a licence must be made is the period commencing immediately after notice of the application is published under section 11(2) and ending 21 days after the date on which notice of the application is published in Applications and Decisions.

• (2) The prescribed time within which a representation under section 12(4) in respect of an application for a licence must be made is the period of 21 days beginning with the date on which notice of the application is published under section 11(2).

• (3) The prescribed time within which an objection under section 12(1)(a) as applied by section 17(5) or section 19(2) to or in respect of an application for a variation of a licence must be made is the period commencing immediately after notice of the application is published under section 18(3) (or, if none, the making of the application to which the objection relates) and ending 21 days after the date on which the notice of the application is published in Applications and Decisions.

• (4) The prescribed time within which a representation under section 19(2) in respect of an application for a variation of a licence must be made is the period of 21 days beginning with the date on which the notice of the application is published under section 18(3).

Consideration of objections and representations

13

• (1) A traffic commissioner shall consider every objection duly made in considering whether or not to hold an inquiry as provided in section 35.

• (2) A traffic commissioner shall consider every representation duly made in considering whether or not to hold an inquiry as provided in section 35.

PART IV — OPERATING CENTRES

Conditions which may be attached to a licence

14

The conditions which may be attached under section 23 to a heavy goods vehicle licence are conditions regulating—

• (a) the number, type and size of authorised heavy goods vehicles which may at any one time be at any operating centre of the licence-holder in the traffic area to which the licence relates for the purposes of maintenance and parking;

• (b) the parking arrangements to be provided for authorised heavy goods vehicles at or in the vicinity of every such operating centre;

• (c) the times between which there may be carried out at every such operating centre any maintenance or movement of any authorised heavy goods vehicle and the times at which any equipment may be used for any such maintenance or movement; and

• (d) the means of ingress to and egress from every such operating centre for any authorised heavy goods vehicle.

Considerations relevant to determinations as to environmental matters

15

• (1) The considerations prescribed as relevant to any determination of a kind specified in section 34(2) are—

• (a) the nature and the use of any other land in the vicinity of the land used or proposed to be used as an operating centre, and any effect which the use of the land as an operating centre has, or would be likely to have, on the environment of that vicinity;

• (b) in a case where the land proposed to be used as an operating centre is, or has previously been, used as an operating centre, the extent to which the grant of the application would result in any material change as regards that operating centre, or its use, which would adversely affect the environment of the vicinity of that land;

• (c) in the case of an application which, if granted, would result in land which has not previoulsy been used as an operating centre being used as one, any information known to the traffic commissioner dealing with the application about any planning permission or application for planning permission relating to the land or any other land in the vicinity of that land;

• (d) the number, type and size of heavy goods vehicles;

• (e) the arrangements for the parking of heavy goods vehicles or the proposed or likely arrangements for such parking;

• (f) the nature and the times of the use of the land for the purpose of an operating centre or the proposed nature and times of the use of the land proposed to be used for that purpose;

• (g) the nature and the times of the use of any equipment installed on the land used as an operating centre for the purpose of the use of that land as an operating centre or of any equipment proposed or likely to be installed on the land proposed to be used as an operating centre for that purpose; and

• (h) the means and frequency of heavy goods vehicle ingress to, and egress from, the land used as an operating centre or the proposed means and frequency of such ingress to, and egress from, the land proposed to be used as an operating centre.

• (2) In this regulation—

“operating centre" includes part of an operating centre and the place which would be the operating centre if the application were granted; and

“planning permission" has the same meaning, as regards England and Wales, as in section 336(1) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 , and, as regards Scotland, as in section 274(1) of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1972 .

Conditions to be satisfied in relation to specified operating centres

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The prescribed condition under sections 14(5)(c), 19(9)(c) and paragraphs 1(7)(b) and 3(7)(b) of Schedule 4 to the 1995 Act is that either—

• (a) proceedings on any appeal (including any proceedings on or in consequence of an appeal) have been determined and any time for appealing or further appealing has expired; or

• (b) any review under section 36 has been determined or the time for giving notice of intention to review under section 36(2) has expired and no such notice of review has been served,