The Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations 1999

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations consolidate with amendments the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations 1996 and regulations amending those Regulations (all of which are now revoked). The amendments made are as follows:—

(a) No licence may be issued for sub-category B1 (invalid carriages) to a person who did not hold one on 12th November 1999—although existing licences remain valid—and driving tests for that sub-category are discontinued with effect from the same date(regulation 5(3) and Schedules 2 and 5).

(b) Members of the armed forces are authorised to drive dual purpose vehicles according to the class of licence held and the maximum authorised mass of the vehicle (regulation 8).

(c) A person who has held a licence for category C, D, C+E or D+E for not less than three years in all is qualified to supervise a provisional licence holder in the same category notwithstanding that he has not held a full licence continuously since 6th April 1998 (regulation 17(3)).

(d) The option for a theory test candidate to pay a lower test fee in return for a delay in notification of the result will not be available from 4th January 2000 but from that date all tests must be marked and the results provided on the day of the test. The current lower fee (£15.50) will from that date be payable in the case of every theory test (regulations 26(1), 27(1), 28(1), 30(1) and 47(1) and (2)).

(e) Persons holding a full licence authorising the driving of vehicles in sub-category B1 (invalid carriages) are exempted from the fee when taking a test for a licence authorising the driving of vehicles in category B (regulation 35(5)).

(f) Certain spent provisions are omitted.

In addition, some provisions in Parts II, III and V have been rearranged and some minor drafting changes have been made.