The Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations 1999

Minimum ages for holding or obtaining licences E+W+S

9.—(1) Subsection (1) of section 101 of the Traffic Act shall have effect as if for the classes of vehicle and the ages specified in the Table in that subsection there were substituted classes of vehicle and ages in accordance with the following provisions of this regulation.

(2) In item 3 (motor bicycles), the age of 21 is substituted for the age of 17 in a case where the motor bicycle is a large motor bicycle except in the following cases, namely—

(a) a case where a person has passed a test on or after 1st January 1997 for a licence authorising the driving of a motor vehicle of a class included in category A, other than sub-category A1, and the standard access period has elapsed,

(b) a case where the large motor bicycle—

(i) is owned or operated by the Secretary of State for Defence, or

(ii) is being driven by a person for the time being subject to the orders of a member of the armed forces of the Crown

and is being used for naval, military or air force purposes, and

(c) a case where a person holds a licence authorising the driving of a large motor bicycle by virtue of having passed a test before 1st January 1997.

(3) In item 4 (agricultural and forestry tractors), in the case of an agricultural or forestry tractor which—

(a) is so constructed that the whole of its weight is transmitted to the road surface by means of wheels,

(b) has an overall width not exceeding 2.45 metres, and

(c) is driven either—

(i) without a trailer attached to it, or

(ii) with a trailer which has an overall width not exceeding 2.45 metres and is either a two-wheeled or close-coupled four-wheeled trailer,

the age of 16 is substituted for the age of 17 in the case of a person who has passed a test prescribed in respect of category F, or is proceeding to, taking or returning from, such a test.

(4) In item 5 (small vehicles), the age of 16 is substituted for the age of 17 in the case of a small vehicle driven without a trailer attached where the driver of the vehicle is a person in respect of whom an award of the higher rate component of the disability living allowance made in pursuance of section 73 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 F1 (whether before or after his 16th birthday) is still in force.

(5) In item 6 (medium-sized goods vehicles), the age of 21 is substituted for the age of 18 in the case of a vehicle drawing a trailer where the maximum authorised mass of the combination exceeds 7.5 tonnes.

(6) In item 7 (other vehicles, including large goods and passenger-carrying vehicles), the age of 18 is substituted for the age of 21 in the case of a person driving a vehicle of a class included in sub-category D1 which is an ambulance and which is owned or operated by—

(a) a health service body (as defined in section 60(7) of the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990 F2 ), or

(b) a National Health Service Trust established under Part I of that Act or under the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 F3 [F4 , or

(c) a Primary Care Trust established under section 16A of the National Health Service Act 1977].

(7) In item 7, the age of 18 is substituted for the age of 21 in the case of a motor vehicle and trailer combination which is in sub-category C1+E and the maximum authorised mass of the combination does not exceed 7.5 tonnes.

(8) In item 7, the age of 18 is substituted for the age of 21 in the case of a person who is registered as an employee of a registered employer in accordance with the Training Scheme, where he is driving a vehicle which is—

(a) of a class to which his training agreement applies, and

(b) owned or operated by his employer or by a registered LGV driver training establishment.

(9) In item 7, the age of 18 is substituted for the age of 21 in relation to a passenger-carrying vehicle—

(a) in the case of a person who holds a provisional licence, and

(b) in the case of a person who holds a full passenger-carrying vehicle driver’s licence, where he is driving a vehicle which is operated under a PSV operator’s licence, a permit granted under section 19 of the 1985 Act or a community bus permit granted under section 22 of that Act and he is either—

(i) not engaged in the carriage of passengers, or

(ii) engaged in the carriage of passengers on a regular service over a route which does not exceed 50 kilometres, or

(iii) is driving a vehicle of a class included in sub-category D1.

(10) In items 6 and 7, the age of 17 is substituted for the ages of 18 and 21 respectively in the case of—

(a) motor vehicles owned or operated by the Secretary of State for Defence, or

(b) motor vehicles driven by persons for the time being subject to the orders of a member of the armed forces of the Crown,

when they are being used for naval, military or air force purposes.

(11) In item 7, in the case of an incomplete large vehicle—

(a) which has a working weight not exceeding 3.5 tonnes, the age of 17 is substituted for the age of 21;

(b) which has a working weight exceeding 3.5 tonnes but not exceeding 7.5 tonnes, the age of 18 is substituted for the age of 21.

(12) In item 7, the age of 17 is substituted for the age of 21 in the case of a road roller which—

(a) is propelled otherwise than by steam,

(b) has no wheel fitted with pneumatic, soft or elastic tyres,

(c) has an unladen weight not exceeding 11.69 tonnes, and

(d) is not constructed or adapted for the conveyance of a load other than the following things, namely water, fuel or accumulators used for the purpose of the supply of power to or propulsion of the vehicle, loose tools and objects specially designed to be attached to the vehicle for the purpose of temporarily increasing its weight.

(13) In this regulation—

(a) for the purposes of paragraph (3)—

(i) any implement fitted to a tractor shall be deemed to form part of the tractor notwithstanding that it is not a permanent or essentially permanent fixture,

(ii) “closed-coupled", in relation to wheels on the same side of a trailer, means fitted so that at all times while the trailer is in motion the wheels remain parallel to the longitudinal axis of the trailer and that the distance between the centres of their respective areas of contact with the road surface does not exceed 840 millimetres, and

(iii) “overall width", in relation to a vehicle, means the width of the vehicle measured between vertical planes parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle and passing through the extreme projecting points thereof exclusive of any driving mirror and so much of the distortion of any tyre as is caused by the weight of the vehicle;

(b) for the purposes of paragraph (8), “registered", “training agreement" and “the Training Scheme" have the meanings respectively given in regulation 54;

(c) in paragraph (9), expressions used which are also used in Council Regulation 3820/85/EEC F5 have the same meanings as in that Regulation.

Textual Amendments

F1 1992 c. 4.

F2 1990 c. 19.

F3 1978 c. 29.

F4 Reg. 9(6)(c) and word inserted (21.2.2003) by The Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) (Amendment) Regulations 2003 (S.I. 2003/166), regs. 1(1), 2

F5 OJ No. L370, 31.12.85, p. 1. See also regulation 4 of the Community Drivers Hours and Recording Equipment (Exemptions and Supplementary Provisions) Regulations 1986 (S.I. 1986/1456).