The Vehicle Drivers (Certificates of Professional Competence) (Amendment) Regulations 2015

Made: 10th December 2015

Laid before Parliament: 17th December 2015

Coming into force: 25th January 2016

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 regulation and supervision of qualifications and working conditions of persons engaged in road transport[^f00002].

Citation and commencement

1

These Regulations may be cited as the Vehicle Drivers (Certificates of Professional Competence) (Amendment) Regulations 2015 and come into force on 25th January 2016.

Amendment of Regulations

2

The Vehicle Drivers (Certificates of Professional Competence) Regulations 2007[^f00003] are amended as set out in regulations 3 to 5.

3

• (1) Regulation 2 (interpretation) is amended as follows.

• (1) In paragraph (1)—

• (a) omit the definition of “the Driving Licences Directive”;

• (b) after the definition of “periodic training course” insert—

• “prison service”— in relation to England and Wales means— Her Majesty’s Prison Service; or any person acting under a contract for the running of a contracted out prison within the meaning of section 84 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991[^f00004]; in relation to Northern Ireland means the Northern Ireland Prison Service; and in relation to Scotland means— the Scottish Prison Service; or any person acting under a contract for the running of a contracted out prison within the meaning of section 106 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994[^f00005];

; and

• (c) for the definition of “relevant vehicle” substitute—

• “relevant vehicle” means a vehicle for which is required a driving licence of category C, C+E, D or D+E as defined— in relation to Great Britain, in Part 1 of Schedule 2 to the Driving Licences Regulations[^f00006]; and in relation to Northern Ireland, in Part 1 of Schedule 1 of the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996[^f00007]; or a driving licence recognised as equivalent;.

• (2) For sub-paragraph (2)(b) substitute—

(b) save for the purposes of regulation 5A(2A), a reference to a category of relevant vehicle includes references to its sub-categories as defined— (i) in relation to Great Britain, in Part 1 of Schedule 2 to the Driving Licences Regulations; and (ii) in relation to Northern Ireland, in Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996.

4

• (1) Regulation 3 (persons to whom these regulations apply) is amended as follows.

• (2) In sub-paragraph (2)(b)—

• (a) at the end of paragraph (iii) omit “or”;

• (b) at the end of paragraph (iv) insert “or”; and

• (c) after paragraph (iv) insert—

(v) the prison service;

• (3) In regulation 3(3)(b)[^f00008] for “50” substitute “100”.

5

In regulation 5A[^f00009], in the table at the end of sub-paragraph (2A)(c)[^f00010] omit the last requirement specified in column (1) and the corresponding entries in column (2).

Signed

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Transport

Andrew Jones — Parliamentary Under Secretary of State — Department for Transport — 10th December 2015

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

EXPLANATORY NOTE

These Regulations amend the Vehicle Drivers (Certificates of Professional Competence) Regulations 2007 (the “2007 Regulations”). The 2007 Regulations impose a requirement on drivers of lorries, buses and coaches to obtain a qualification called a driver “Certificate of Professional Competence” (“CPC”), and undergo 35 hours of training every 5 years.

Regulation 3(2)(a) removes the definition of “the Driving Licences Directive”, as the directive referred to (the Second Driving Licences Directive) has been repealed.

Regulation 3(2)(b)inserts a definition of “prison service”.

Regulation 3(2)(c) updates the definition of “relevant vehicle” by replacing the reference to the repealed Driving Licences Directive with a reference to the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations 1999 for Great Britain and to the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 for Northern Ireland.

Regulation 3(3)updates the references to subcategories of vehicles by replacing the reference to the repealed Driving Licences Directive with a reference to the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations 1999 for Great Britain and to the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 for Northern Ireland.

Regulation 4(2) adds to the exemptions set out in regulation 3(2)(b) an exemption for any person driving a vehicle which is used by, or under the control of, the prison service.

Regulation 4(3) amends the exemption set out in regulation 3(3)(b) to extend the radius within which an empty vehicle can be driven from the driver’s base without the driver having to obtain a CPC. The radius is extended from 50 kilometres to 100 kilometres.

Regulation 5 removes the requirement for persons undertaking their practical CPC test in a category C (lorry), or C+E (lorry and trailer), vehicle for it to have eight or more forward gear ratios.

A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sectors is foreseen. An Explanatory Memorandum is published alongside the instrument on www.legislation.gov.uk.

Footnotes

[^f00001]: 1972 c.68; section 2(2) was amended by the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006 (c.51), section 27(1) and by Part 1 of the Schedule to the European Union (Amendment) Act 2008 (c.7).

[^f00002]: S.I. 1975/1707.

[^f00003]: S.I. 2007/605, amended by S.I. 2008/1965, 2010/865, 2013/1753, 2013/2667, 2014/1816; there are other amending instruments but none is relevant.

[^f00004]: 1991 c.53; section 84 was substituted by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (c. 33), section 96.

[^f00005]: 1994 c. 33; section 106(1), (3) and (4) were amended by S.I. 1999/1820, Schedule 2, Part 1, paragraph 115(1) and (3); section 106(3)(b) was amended by the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 2003 (asp 11), the Schedule, paragraph 50.

[^f00006]: “Driving Licences Regulations” is defined in regulation 2(1) of the principle instrument amended by these Regulations to mean the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations 1999 (S.I. 1999/2864). Relevant amending instruments are S.I. 2012/977, 2014/613.

[^f00007]: S.R. (NI) 1996 No 542, amended by S.R. (NI) 2012 No 170, S.R. (NI) 2013 No 298.

[^f00008]: Regulation 3(3) was inserted by S.I. 2013/2667.

[^f00009]: Regulation 5A was inserted by S.I. 2008/1965.

[^f00010]: Paragraph (2A) was inserted by S.I. 2010/865.