Vehicles (Excise) Act 1971

Issue, exhibition, exchange, surrender, etc. of licences

12 Issue and exhibition of licences

(1) Every person applying for a vehicle licence shall make such a declaration and furnish such particulars with respect to the vehicle for which the licence is to be taken out or otherwise as may be prescribed.

(2) Every vehicle licence shall be issued for the vehicle specified in the application for the licence and shall not entitle the person to whom it is issued to use or keep any other vehicle.

(3) The Secretary of State shall not be required to issue any vehicle licence for which application is made unless he is satisfied—

(i) that the licence applied for is the appropriate licence for the vehicle specified in the application; and

(ii) in the case of an application for a licence for a vehicle purporting to be the first application for a licence for the vehicle, that a licence has not previously been issued for that vehicle.

(4) Subject to the provisions of regulations under this Act, and without prejudice to section 8 thereof, any person who uses or keeps on a public road any mechanically propelled vehicle on which duty under this Act is chargeable without there being fixed to and exhibited on that vehicle in the prescribed manner a licence for, or in respect of the use of, that vehicle issued under this Act and for the time being in force shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £20.

(5) In any proceedings for an offence under subsection (4) above it shall be a defence to prove that—

(a) while an expired vehicle licence for the vehicle was in force an application was duly made for a further vehicle licence for the vehicle to take effect from or before the expiration of the expired licence and for a period including the time in question; and

(b) the expired licence was at that time fixed to and exhibited on the vehicle in the manner prescribed in pursuance of subsection (4) above ; and

(c) the period between the expiration of the expired licence and that time did not exceed fourteen days.

For the purposes of paragraph (a) above an application for a further licence is made when the application is received by the Secretary of State.

(6) Regulations under this Act may provide for the issue of new licences in the place of licences which may be lost or destroyed, and for the fee to be paid on the issue of a new licence.

(7) Any vehicle licence may be transferred in the prescribed manner.

13 Temporary licences

(1) Where an application is made for a vehicle licence for any period (except a seven day licence), the Secretary of State may, if he thinks fit, instead of issuing forthwith a vehicle licence for that period—

(a) issue a vehicle licence (in this Act referred to as a " temporary licence ") for fourteen days or such other period as may be prescribed and having effect from such day as may be prescribed ; and

(b) issue from time to time a further temporary licence in respect of the vehicle to which a previous temporary licence relates.

(2) Nothing in this section shall affect the amount of any duty payable in connection with an application for a vehicle licence.

(3) Where an application is made for a vehicle licence for any period and a temporary licence is issued in pursuance of the application, subsection (3)(a) of section 8 of this Act shall not apply to the first-mentioned licence if on a transfer of the relevant vehicle during the currency of the temporary licence the temporary licence is delivered with the vehicle to the transferee.

14 Issue, etc. of temporary licences by motor dealers

(1) The Secretary of State may by regulations make such provision as he considers appropriate with respect to the allocation of temporary licences to motor dealers who apply for such allocations and appear to the Secretary of State suitable to receive them and with respect to the issue of the licences by motor dealers.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) above, regulations under this section may include provision—

(a) as to the mode of application for the allocation of licences and as to the fees payable in respect of allocations ;

(b) specifying the categories of vehicles for which allocations of licences may be made ;

(c) prohibiting the issue of temporary licences in pursuance of applications for trade licences or seven day licences ;

(d) for requiring a motor dealer to pay to the Secretary of State, in respect of each licence allocated to the dealer, the excise duty chargeable in respect of the licence which will be specified in the application in consequence of which the allocated licence can be issued;

(e) as to the replacement of allocated licences which are lost, damaged or destroyed and as to the fees payable in connection with their replacement; and

(f) as to the transfer of licences allocated to a motor dealer in cases where the dealer dies or becomes incapacitated or bankrupt and in such other cases as may be prescribed.

(3) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) above, regulations under this section may also include provision for—

(a) requiring a motor dealer to whom an allocation of licences is made to keep a record in the prescribed form of the licences allocated to him and of the licences issued by him, and to permit the record to be inspected at all reasonable times by any officer of the Secretary of State and any constable;

(b) restricting the circumstances in which a motor dealer may issue licences;

(c) requiring a motor dealer, before he issues a temporary licence in respect of a vehicle—

(i) to obtain from the proposed holder of the licence an application for a vehicle licence in the prescribed form,

(ii) to ascertain that the prescribed requirements as to test certificates and insurance are satisfied in respect of the vehicle,

(iii) to ensure that the temporary licence is appropriate for the vehicle and takes effect on the prescribed date, and

(iv) to make on the temporary licence, and on any copy of it specified in the regulations, such entries as the Secretary of State may determine;

(d) requiring a motor dealer by whom a temporary licence is issued to deliver or despatch to the Secretary of State, within the prescribed period beginning with the day on which the dealer issues the licence, the prescribed particulars and documents relating to the licence and the vehicle for which it is issued ; and

(e) securing that after any change takes effect in the rate of excise duty chargeable in respect of a vehicle licence of any description, a temporary licence previously allocated to a dealer is not issued by him in consequence of an application for a vehicle licence of that description, but that a temporary licence issued in contravention of regulations made in pursuance of the foregoing provisions of this paragraph shall not be invalid by reason only of the contravention.

15 Provisions supplementary to s. 14

(1) Any unissued licence allocated to a motor dealer in pursuance of section 14 of this Act may at any time be surrendered in the prescribed manner to the Secretary of State by the dealer or by any person to whom the licence has been transferred under regulations made in pursuance of subsection (2)(f) of that section.

(2) A motor dealer and any other person having the custody of any unissued licence allocated to the dealer in pursuance of section 14 of this Act shall, if required to do so by the Secretary of State and subject to section 25(2) of this Act, forthwith surrender any such licence to the Secretary of State in such manner as the Secretary of State may direct; and a person who knowingly fails to comply with a requirement made by the Secretary of State under this subsection shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine of £50.

(3) On the surrender of a licence in pursuance of this section the dealer or other person in question shall be entitled to be paid by the Secretary of State the amount paid by the dealer in respect of the licence under regulations made in pursuance of section 14(2)(d) of this Act.

(4) Where a licence is issued by a motor dealer in contravention of regulations made in pursuance of section 14(3)(e) of this Act, the dealer shall be liable to pay to the Secretary of State a sum equal to the amount (if any) by which the amount paid by the dealer as mentioned in subsection (3) above is exceeded by the amount which would have been so paid if the allocation of the licence to the dealer had taken place at the time when the licence was issued.

16 Trade licences

(1) If a motor trader or a vehicle tester applies in the prescribed manner to the Secretary of State to take out a licence under this section (in this Act referred to as a " trade licence ")—

(i) in the case of a motor trader, for all mechanically propelled vehicles which are from time to time temporarily in his possession in the course of his business as a motor trader and all recovery vehicles kept by him for the purpose of dealing with disabled vehicles in the course of that business; or

(ii) in the case of a vehicle tester, for all mechanically propelled vehicles which are from time to time submitted to him for testing in the course of his business as a vehicle tester; or

(iii) in the case of a motor trader who is a manufacturer of mechanically propelled vehicles, for all vehicles kept and used by him solely for purposes of conducting research and development in the course of his business as such a manufacturer,

the Secretary of State may, subject to the prescribed conditions, issue to him a trade licence on payment of duty at the rate applicable to the licence in accordance with the following provisions of this section :

Provided that the holder of a trade licence shall not be entitled by virtue of that licence—

(a) to use more than one mechanically propelled vehicle at any one time, except in the case of a recovery vehicle drawing a disabled vehicle ; or

(b) to use any vehicle for any purpose other than such purposes as may be prescribed ; or

(c) to keep any vehicle on a road if it is not being used thereon.

(2) Regulations shall be made under this section prescribing the conditions subject to which trade licences are to be issued and the purposes for which the holder of a trade licence may use a vehicle under the licence.

(3) The purposes which may be prescribed as those for which the holder of a trade licence may use a vehicle under the licence shall not include the conveyance of goods or burden of any description other than—

(a) a load which is carried solely for the purpose of testing or demonstrating the vehicle or any of its accessories or equipment and which is returned to the place of loading without having been removed from the vehicle except for such purpose or in the case of accident; or

(b) in the case of a recovery vehicle, any such load as is referred to in the definition of such a vehicle contained in subsection (8) below or a load consisting of a disabled vehicle; or

(c) any load built in as part of the vehicle or permanently attached thereto; or

(d) a load consisting of parts, accessories or equipment designed to be fitted to the vehicle and of tools for so fitting them; or

(e) a load consisting of a trailer;

and, for the purposes of this subsection, where a vehicle is so constructed that a trailer may by partial superimposition be attached to the vehicle in such a manner as to cause a substantial part of the weight of the trailer to be borne by the vehicle, the vehicle and the trailer shall be deemed to constitute a single vehicle.

(4) A trade licence may be taken out—

(a) for a period of twelve months ; or

(b) except in the case of a licence which is to be used only for vehicles to which Schedule 1 to this Act relates, for a period of four months;

and shall first have effect on the day specified by the applicant in the application for the licence.

(5) The rate of duty applicable to a trade licence taken out for a period of twelve months shall be £15 or, if the licence is to be used only for vehicles to which Schedule 1 to this Act relates, £2.50; and the rate of duty applicable to a licence taken out for a period of four months shall be eleven thirtieths of the rate applicable to the corresponding trade licence taken out for a period of twelve months, any fraction of 5p being treated as 5p if it exceeds 2-5p but otherwise being disregarded.

(6) Nothing in this section shall operate to prevent a person entitled to take out a trade licence from holding two or more trade licences.

(7) If any person holding a trade licence or trade licences issued under this section uses on a public road by virtue of that licence or those licences—

(i) a greater number of vehicles at any one time than he is authorised to use by virtue of that licence or those licences; or

(ii) any vehicle for any purpose other than such purposes as may have been prescribed under subsection (2) above;

or if that person uses that licence or any of those licences for the purpose of keeping on a road a vehicle which is not being used on that road, he shall be liable to the greater of the following penalties, namely—

(a) an excise penalty of £50; or

(b) an excise penalty equal to five times the amount of the duty chargeable in respect of the vehicle or vehicles.

The amount of the duty chargeable in respect of a vehicle shall be calculated for the purposes of this subsection in the same manner as it is calculated for the purposes of section 8 of this Act by virtue of subsection (3) thereof.

(8) In this section—

• " motor trader " means a manufacturer or repairer of, or dealer in, mechanically propelled vehicles; and a person shall be treated for the purposes of this section as a dealer in such vehicles if he carries on a business consisting wholly or mainly of collecting and delivering mechanically propelled vehicles, and not including any other activities except activities as a manufacturer or repairer of, or dealer in, such vehicles ;

• " vehicle tester " means a person, other than a motor trader, who regularly in the course of his business engages in the testing on roads of mechanically propelled vehicles belonging to other persons; and

• " recovery vehicle " means a vehicle on which there is mounted, or which is drawing, or which is carrying as part of its equipment, apparatus designed for raising a disabled vehicle wholly or partly from the ground or for drawing a disabled vehicle when so raised, and which is not used for the conveyance of goods other than a disabled vehicle wholly raised by that apparatus, and which carries no other load than articles required for the operation of, or in connection with, that apparatus or otherwise for dealing with disabled vehicles.

17 Surrender of licences

(1) The holder of a licence (other than a licence for a tramcar)—

(a) may at any time surrender the licence to the Secretary of State in the prescribed manner; and

(b) shall on so surrendering the licence be entitled, if he satisfies the prescribed requirements and subject to the following provisions of this section, to receive from the Secretary of State, by way of rebate of duty paid upon the surrendered licence, a sum equal to the relevant amount multiplied by the number of days in the relevant period:

Provided that no sum shall be payable under this subsection in a case where the relevant period is less than thirty days.

(2) In this section " the relevant amount", in relation to a surrendered licence, means one three-hundred-and-sixty-fifth of the annual rate by reference to which duty was charged upon the licence and " the relevant period", in relation to a surrendered licence, means the period beginning with the day following that on which the licence is received by the Secretary of State in pursuance of paragraph (a) of subsection (1) above and ending with the day on which the licence would have expired by the effluxion of time.

The Secretary of State may, for the purposes of this subsection, treat a surrendered licence delivered to him by post as received by him on the day on which it was posted.

(3) If during the currency of a temporary licence issued in pursuance of an application for a vehicle licence for any period, the temporary licence is surrendered under this section, it shall be treated for the purposes of this section as issued for that period or, if the Secretary of State so directs but subject to subsection (4) below, for any other period specified in the direction being a period for which by virtue of section 10(5) of this Act a vehicle licence could be issued in pursuance of the application; and where a further vehicle licence issued in pursuance of the application is held by any person at the time of the surrender of the temporary licence or is received by him thereafter—

(a) the further licence shall cease to be in force and he shall forthwith return it to the Secretary of State and shall, if he knowingly fails to do so, be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £50 ; and

(b) if the Secretary of State considers that there has been undue delay in complying with paragraph (a) above he may, without prejudice to any liability under that paragraph, reduce the relevant period by such number of days as he thinks fit for the purpose of calculating the sum payable in pursuance of subsection (1) above in respect of the surrendered temporary licence.

(4) A person who in pursuance of this section is paid a sum which was calculated by reference to a period specified in a direction under subsection (3) above may appeal to the county court, or in Scotland by way of summary application to the sheriff, on the ground that the Secretary of State was not authorised by that subsection to give the direction.

18 Alteration of vehicle or of its use

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, where a vehicle licence has been taken out for a vehicle at any rate under this Act and the vehicle is at any time while the licence is in force used in an altered condition or in a manner or for a purpose which brings it within, or which if it was used solely in that condition or in that manner or for that purpose would bring it within, a description of vehicle to which a higher rate of duty is applicable under this Act, duty at that higher rate shall become chargeable in respect of the licence for the vehicle.

(2) Where duty at a higher rate becomes chargeable under subsection (1) above in respect of any vehicle licence, the licence may be exchanged for a new vehicle licence, for the period beginning with the date on which the higher rate of duty becomes chargeable and expiring at the end of the period for which the original vehicle licence was issued, on payment of the appropriate proportion of the difference between—

(a) the amount payable under this Act on the original vehicle licence; and

(b) the amount payable under this Act on a vehicle licence taken out for the period for which the original licence was issued but at the higher rate of duty, that amount being calculated, if that rate has been changed since the issue of the original licence, as if that rate had been in force at all material times at the level at which it is in force when it becomes chargeable.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2) above the appropriate proportion is the proportion which the number of days in the period beginning when the higher rate of duty becomes chargeable and ending with the end of the period for which the original licence was issued bears to the number of days in the whole of the last-mentioned period, that period being treated as 365 days in the case of a licence for twelve months and 120 days in the case of a licence for four months.

(4) Where a vehicle licence has been taken out for a vehicle, and by reason of the vehicle being used as mentioned in subsection (1) above, a higher rate of duty becomes chargeable and duty at the higher rate was not paid before the vehicle was so used, the person so using the vehicle shall be liable to the greater of the following penalties, namely—

(a) an excise penalty of £50; or

(b) an excise penalty of an amount equal to five times the difference between the duty actually paid on the licence and the amount of the duty at that higher rate.

(5) Where a vehicle licence has been taken out for a vehicle of a certain description, duty at a higher rate applicable to vehicles of some other description shall not become chargeable in respect of the vehicle by reason of the vehicle being used as mentioned in subsection (1) above, unless the vehicle as used while the said licence is in force satisfies all the conditions which must be satisfied in order to bring the vehicle for the purposes of the charge of duty under this Act into the said other description of vehicles

(6) Where duty has been paid in respect of a vehicle at a rate applicable under Schedule 4 to this Act, then, so long as the vehicle is to a substantial extent being used for the conveyance of goods or burden belonging to a particular person (whether the person keeping the vehicle or not), duty at a higher rate shall not become chargeable in respect of the vehicle by reason only that it is used for the conveyance without charge in the course of their employment of employees of the person aforesaid.

(7) Where duty has been paid in respect of a vehicle at a rate applicable to farmers' goods vehicles under Schedule 4 to this Act, duty at a higher rate shall not become chargeable in respect of the vehicle by reason only that, on an occasion when the vehicle is being used by the person in whose name it is registered under this Act for the purpose of the conveyance of the produce of, or of articles required for the purposes of, the agricultural land which he occupies, it is also used for the conveyance for some other person engaged in agriculture of the produce of, or of articles required for the purposes of, the agricultural land occupied by that other person, if it is shown—

(a) that the vehicle is so used only occasionally;

(b) that the goods conveyed for that other person represent only a small proportion of the total amount of goods which the vehicle is conveying on that occasion; and

(c) that no payment or reward of any kind is, or is agreed to be, made or given for the conveyance of the goods of that other person.

(8) Where duty has been paid in respect of a vehicle at a rate applicable to farmers' goods vehicles under Schedule 4 to this Act, duty at a higher rate shall not become chargeable in respect of the vehicle by reason only that, during such periods and in such areas as may be specified by order of the Treasury made by statutory instrument, it is used, whether or not by the person in whose name it is registered under this Act, for any such purpose as is specified in the order.

An order under this subsection may be revoked or varied by a subsequent order of the Treasury.

(9) Subsection (8) above shall continue in force until such date as Her Majesty may by Order in Council determine.