Public Passenger Vehicles Act 1981

81 Interpretation of references to the operator of a vehicle or service

(1) For the purposes of this Act—

(a) regulations may make provision as to the person who is to be regarded as the operator of a vehicle which is made available by one holder of a PSV operator's licence to another under a hiring arrangement; and

(b) where regulations under paragraph (a) above do not apply, the operator of a vehicle is—

(i) the driver, if he owns the vehicle; and

(ii) in any other case, the person for whom the driver works (whether under a contract of employment or any other description of contract personally to do work).

(2) For the purposes of this Act the operator of a stage or express carriage service is the person, or each of the persons, providing the service; and for those purposes the operator of a vehicle being used as a stage or express carriage shall be taken to be providing the service thereby provided unless he proves that the service is or forms part of a service provided not by himself but by one or more other persons.