Transport Act 1968

103 Interpretation, supplementary provisions, etc., for Part VI. E+W+S

(1) In this Part of this Act—

• “agriculture” has the meaning assigned by section 109(3) of the M1 Agriculture Act 1947 or, in relation to Scotland, section 86(3) of the M2 Agriculture (Scotland) Act 1948;

• [F1 “the Community Recording Equipment Regulation” has the same meaning given by section 97(7) of this Act;]

• “driver”, “employee-driver” and “owner-driver” have the meaning assigned by section 95(3) of this Act;

• “employer”, in relation to an employee-driver, means the employer of that driver in the employment by virtue of which that driver is an employee-driver;

• [F2 “the applicable Community rules” means any directly applicable Community provision for the time being in force about the driving of road vehicles]

• [F3 “the domestic drivers’ hours code” has the meaning given by section 96(13) of this Act]

• F4 “prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister;

• [F5 “recording equipment” has the meaning given by section 97(7) of this Act;

• “record sheet” includes a temporary sheet attached to a record sheet in accordance with [F6 Article 16(2)] of the Community Recording Equipment Regulation;]

• [F3 “relevant Community provision” means any Community provision for the time being in force about the driving of road vehicles, whether directly applicable or not]

• “working day”, in relation to any driver, means—

(a) any period during which he is on duty and which does not fall to be aggregated with any other such period by virtue of paragraph (b) of this definition; and

(b) where a period during which he is on duty is not followed by an interval for rest of not less than eleven hours or (where permitted by virtue of section 96(4)(b) of this Act) of not less than nine and a half hours, the aggregate of that period and each successive such period until there is such an interval as aforesaid, together with any interval or intervals between periods so aggregated;

• [F7 “working week” means, subject to subsection (5) of this section, a week beginning at midnight between Sunday and Monday:]

and any expression not defined above which is also used in the Act of 1960 has the same meaning as in that Act.

(2) For the purposes of this Part of this Act a director of a company shall be deemed to be employed by it.

(3) In this Part of this Act references to a person driving a vehicle are references to his being at the driving controls of the vehicle for the purpose of controlling its movements, whether it is in motion or is stationary with the engine running.

(4) In this Part of this Act references to a driver being on duty are references—

(a) in the case of an employee-driver, to his being on duty (whether for the purpose of driving a vehicle to which this Part of this Act applies or for other purposes) in the employment by virtue of which he is an employee-driver, or in any other employment under the person who is his employer in the first-mentioned employment; and

(b) in the case of an owner-driver, to his driving a vehicle to which this Part of this Act applies for the purposes of a trade or business carried on by him or being otherwise engaged in work for the purposes of that trade or business, being work in connection with such a vehicle or the load carried thereby.

(5) The traffic [F8 commissioner] for any area may, on the application of an owner-driver or of the employer of an employee-driver, from time to time direct that a week beginning at midnight between two days other than [F9 Sunday and Monday] shall be, or be deemed to have been, a working week in relation to that owner-driver or employee-driver; but where by virtue of any such direction a new working week begins before the expiration of a previous working week then, without prejudice to the application of the provisions of this Part of this Act in relation to the new working week, those provisions shall continue to apply in relation to the previous working week until its expiration.

(6) In [F10 section] 98(2)(e) of this Act “a small goods vehicle” means a goods vehicle which has a plated weight of the prescribed description not exceeding [F11 3500 kilograms] or (not having a plated weight) has an unladen weight not exceeding [F11 1525 kilograms]; but the Minister may by regulations direct that the foregoing provisions of this subsection shall have effect, in relation to either or both of those sections—

(a) with the substitution for either of the weights there specified of such other weight as may be specified in the regulations;

(b) with the substitution for either of those weights or for any other weight for the time being specified as aforesaid of a weight expressed in terms of the metric system, being a weight which is equivalent to that for which it is substituted or does not differ from it by more than five per cent. thereof.

[F12 (7) An offence under this Part of this Act may be treated for the purpose of conferring jurisdiction on a court (but without prejudice to any jurisdiction it may have apart from this subsection) as having been committed in any of the following places, that is to say—

(a) the place where the person charged with the offence was driving when evidence of the offence first came to the attention of a constable or vehicle examiner;

(b) the place where that person resides or is or is believed to reside or be at the time when the proceedings are commenced: or

(c) the place where at that time that person or, in the case of an employee-driver, that person’s employer or, in the case of an owner-driver, the person for whom he was driving, has his place or principal place of business or his operating centre for the vehicle in question.

In this subsection “vehicle examiner” means an officer within the meaning of section 99 of this Act.]

(8) The enactments specified in Schedule 11 to this Act shall have effect subject to the amendments there specified.

(9) Any order made under section 166(2) of this Act appointing a day for the purposes of any of the provisions of this Part of this Act may contain such transitional provision as the Minister thinks necessary or expedient as respects the application of any particular provision of this Part of this Act to a working week or working day falling partly before and partly after the date on which that provision comes into operation.

Textual Amendments

F1 Definition inserted by S.I. 1979/1746, reg. 3(7)(a)

F2 Words substituted by Road Traffic (Drivers' Ages and Hours of Work) Act 1976 (c. 3), s. 2(1)(a)

F3 Definitions inserted by Road Traffic (Drivers' Ages and Hours of Work) Act 1976 (c. 3), s. 2(1)(b)

F4 Definition repealed by Transport Act 1985 (c. 67, SIF 126), s. 139(3), Sch. 8

F5 Definitions inserted by S.I. 1979/1746, reg. 3(7)(b)

F6 Words substituted by S.I. 1986/1457, reg. 3(3)(g)

F7 Definition substituted by S.I. 1986/1458, art. 3(1)

F8 Word substituted by Transport Act 1985 (c. 67, SIF 126), s. 3, Sch. 2 Pt II para. 1(5)

F9 Words substituted by S.I. 1986/1458, art. 3(2)

F10 Word substituted by S.I. 1979/1746, reg. 3(8)

F11 Words substituted by S.I. 1981/1373, Sch. Pt. IIIB

F12 S. 103(7) substituted by Road Traffic (Drivers' Ages and Hours of Work) Act 1976 (c. 3), s. 3

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 S. 103 applied (with modifications) (S.) (4.1.1995) by 1994 c. 39, s. 40(7) (with s. 7(2)); S.I. 1994/2850, art. 3(a), Sch. 2

C2 The text of s. 103(8), 161(4), 162(5), Sch. 16, paras. 8(1)(3), 9, 10 is in the form in which it was originally enacted: it was not reproduced in Statutes in Force and does not reflect any amendments or repeals which may have been made prior to 1.2.1991.

Marginal Citations

M1 1947 c. 48.

M2 1948 c. 45.