Road Traffic Act 1988

[F1 112 Grant of HGV drivers’ licences. U.K.

(1) Subject to the provisions of any regulations made by virtue of section 117(2)(m) of this Act, the licensing authority must not grant a full licence to drive a heavy goods vehicle of any class unless he is satisfied—

(a) that the applicant for the licence has at some time during the period of five years ending on the date of the coming into force of the licence passed the prescribed test of competence to drive vehicles of that class, or

(b) that the applicant for the licence has within that period held a full licence authorising the driving of vehicles of that class, or

(c) that the applicant for the licence holds a licence to drive a motor vehicle granted under Part III of this Act and that—

(i) either he holds an exchangeable licence authorising the driving of vehicles of a category corresponding to that class or, at the time of the application for the licence granted under Part III of this Act which he holds or of an application for a previous such licence, he surrendered such an exchangeable licence, and

(ii) he fulfils the requirements of subsection (2) below.

(2) Those requirements are that at the time of his application for the heavy goods vehicle driver’s licence he has not been normally resident in Great Britain or (where the exchangeable licence is or was a Community licence) the United Kingdom for more than 18 months, that he surrenders to the licensing authority any exchangeable licence which he holds, and that either—

(a) he has passed in the member State or territory in respect of which his exchangeable licence was issued a test in respect of vehicles of a category corresponding to the class in question, being a test which, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, is equivalent to the prescribed test of competence to drive vehicles of that class, or

(b) at the time at which he became normally resident in Great Britain or (where the exchangeable licence is or was a Community licence) the United Kingdom, he had been in the habit of driving vehicles of a category corresponding to the class in question—

(i) for a period of six months falling within the period of 18 months ending at that time, or

(ii) for a period of one year falling within the period of three years ending at that time,

or for periods which, taken together, satisfy sub-paragraph (i) or (ii) above.

(3) Subsection (8) of section 89 of this Act shall apply for the purposes of this section as it applies for the purposes of that.

(4) For the purposes of this section, where an exchangeable licence authorises the driving of vehicles of any category and any vehicle falling within that category falls also within any class of vehicles specified by regulations under section 117 of this Act as a class in respect of which a heavy goods vehicle driver’s licence may be issued—

(a) that category shall be treated as corresponding to that class, and

(b) where, by virtue of those regulations, a person who passes a test of competence to drive vehicles of that class is treated as having also passed a test of competence to drive vehicles of another class, that category shall be treated as corresponding to that other class.

(5) For the purpose of enabling an applicant to learn to drive a heavy goods vehicle with a view to passing the prescribed test of competence to drive, the licensing authority may issue to him a heavy goods vehicle driver’s licence as a provisional licence.

(6) A licence issued by virtue of subsection (5) above or a full licence granted to an applicant who is under the age of 21 on the date of the application shall be subject to the prescribed conditions, and if the person to whom it is issued fails to comply with any of the conditions he is guilty of an offence.

(7) It is an offence for a person to cause or permit another person who is under the age of 21 to drive a heavy goods vehicle of any class in contravention of any prescribed conditions subject to which that other person’s licence is issued.

(8) In this section—

• “Community licence” has the same meaning as in Part III of this Act,

• “exchangeable licence” means a Community licence or a document which would be a Community licence if Gibraltar formed part of a member State other than the United Kingdom.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Pt. IV (ss. 110–122): by Road Traffic (Driver Licensing and Information Systems) Act 1989 (c. 22, SIF 107:1), s. 1(1)(2)(7), 16, Sch. 6 it is provided that Pt. IV (first appearing in text) shall cease to have effect and is repealed (1.4.1991) and by s. 2(1) of that 1989 Act (coming into force 1.4.1991) it is provided that there shall be inserted as Part IV (appearing second in text) of this 1988 Act the provisions set out in Schedule 2 to that 1989 Act which– (a) apply both to the licensing of the drivers of large goods vehicles and to the licensing of the drivers of passenger-carrying vehicles (as there defined); and (b) re-enact and assimilate certain of the provisions of Part IV of the 1988 Act (as originally enacted) and of section 22 of the Public Passenger Vehicles Act 1981 to take account of the abolition by section 1 above of special licences to drive heavy goods vehicles and public service vehicles and the granting after the appointed day of licences to drive such vehicles under Part III of the 1988 Act