Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) (Amendment) Regulations 1999

Made: 14th January 1999

Laid before Parliament: 19th January 1999

Coming into force

The Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 89(4)(b), 94(5)(b), 97(1), 105(1), (2) and (3) and 108(1) of the Road Traffic Act 1988¹, after consulting with representative organisations in accordance with section 195(2) of that Act and with the approval of the Treasury², hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation and commencement

1

These Regulations may be cited as the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) (Amendment) Regulations 1999 and shall come into force—

• (a) for the purposes of regulation 4 and regulation 2 to the extent that it refers to that regulation, on 1st April 1999;

• (b) for the purposes of regulation 3 and regulation 2 to the extent that it refers to that regulation, on 6th April 1999;

• (c) for all other purposes, on 10th February 1999.

Amendment of Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations 1996

2

The Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations 1996³ (“the Principal Regulations”) are amended in accordance with regulations 3 to 6 below.

3

In regulation 31(1)(b) for “£15” there shall be substituted “£15.50”.

4

For the table in Part 1 of Schedule 3 (Table of licence fees) there shall be substituted the table in Schedule 1 below.

5

Subject to regulation 7 below, for the table in Schedule 5 (Fees for tests) there shall be substituted the table in Schedule 2 below.

6

After regulation 69 there shall be inserted—

(69A) (1) There are prescribed for the purposes of section 94(5)(b)(ii) of the Traffic Act⁴ (examination of a licence applicant or holder by an officer of the Secretary of State) the following disabilities— (a) impairment of visual acuity or of the central or peripheral visual field; (b) a disability consisting of any one or more of the following— (i) the absence of one or more limbs, (ii) the deformity of one or more limbs, (iii) the loss of use of one or more limbs whether or not progressive in nature, and (iv) impairment of co-ordination of movement of the limbs or of co-ordination between a limb and the eye; (c) impairment of cognitive functions or behaviour. (2) In paragraph (1)(b), a reference to a limb includes a reference to part of a limb, and the reference to loss of use in relation to a limb includes a reference to impairment of limb movement, power or sensation.

Transitional provision

7

Regulation 5 shall not apply in the case of an application for an appointment for a practical or unitary test (as defined in the Principal Regulations) to be conducted on or before 3rd May 1999, in respect of which the provisions of the table in Schedule 5 to the Principal Regulations in force immediately before the making of these Regulations shall apply.

SCHEDULE 1 — PROVISIONS INSERTED IN SUBSTITUTION FOR PART 1 OF SCHEDULE 3

SCHEDULE 2 — PROVISIONS INSERTED IN SUBSTITUTION FOR SCHEDULE 5

Signed

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions.

Larry Whitty — Parliamentary Under Secretary,Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions — 11th January 1999

We approve the making of these Regulations

Bob Ainsworth — Jim Dowd — Two of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury — 14th January 1999

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations further amend the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations 1996 as follows.

1 Regulation 4 and Schedule 1 amend the fees payable upon an application for a driving licence made on or after 1st April 1999. Driving licence fees were last increased on 1st July 1998. Save for the exception mentioned below, the following table shows that where an existing fee is that specified in column 1 the new fee will be that shown in column 2. The percentage increase is shown in column 3: 1. Existing fee2. New fee3. Percentage increase £6£8.5041.7%£11£13.5022.7%£17£24.5030.6%£21£23.5011.9%£26£33.5028.8% The exception is the fee payable on the renewal of a Group 2 licence, which is altered from £26 to £28.50, an increase of 9.6%.

2 Regulation 5 and Schedule 2 amend the fees payable upon an application for a practical driving test where the test is to be conducted on or after 4th May 1999. Practical driving test fees were last increased for tests booked on or after 1st April 1998. The following tables show the new fees with the percentage change in brackets: ORDINARY TESTS Type of vehicleTest commenced during normal hoursTests commenced during evenings and weekends Motor cycles and mopeds£45 (15.4%)£55 (5.8%)Motor cars, tractors and minor categories£36.75 (12.2%)£46 (7%)Cars with trailers, goods vehicles and passenger-carrying vehicles£73.50 (no change)£92 (no change) EXTENDED TESTS Type of vehicleTest commenced during normal hoursTests commenced during evenings and weekends Motor cars£73.50 (12.2%)£92 (7%)Motor cycles£90 (15.4%)£110 (5.8%)

3 Regulation 3 increases the theory test fee, which has remained unchanged since July 1996, from £15 to £15.50 for tests booked on or after 6th April 1999.

4 Regulation 6 enables the Secretary of State to serve notice on a person whom he believes to be suffering from specified types of relevant disability (namely certain visual defects and limb disabilities and the impairment of cognitive function) requiring that person to be examined by one of his own officers rather than a registered medical practitioner.

Footnotes